Be cunning, play smart, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French relocated south and located safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.