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Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps developed from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.