Learn to Play Craps – Tips and Techniques: The History of Craps

Be cunning, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the proper way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the nation. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he designed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.


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