Be clever, play smart, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.