Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French headed south and found safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is acquired from the name of the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. A few think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.