07.11
Master Craps – Hints and Techniques: The Background of Craps
Be brilliant, play smart, and master craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and all over the nation. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he created the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.