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Learn to Play Craps – Hints and Schemes: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and master craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the English, the French relocated down south and located refuge in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.