Be smart, play cunning, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. 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 known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. Most acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.