Master Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and become versed in craps the right 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 evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights played Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A few think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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