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Pickup Craps – Pointers and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be smart, play cunning, and master craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the country. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.