Be clever, play cunning, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Modern craps developed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French moved down south and located sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.