Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated down south and located safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.