Pickup Craps – Tips and Tactics: The Background of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and master craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Modern craps developed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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