Master Craps – Hints and Strategies: The History of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps come about from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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