Be a Master of Craps – Pointers and Schemes: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and pickup craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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