Be cunning, play smart, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French moved south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he established the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.