Be smart, play smart, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he created the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.