Be brilliant, play cunning, and discover how to play craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the country. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he created the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.