Be cunning, play clever, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s horsemen enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French headed down south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved 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 was derived from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and all over the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn created the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwards, he designed the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.