Be cunning, play clever, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps formed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French headed down south and discovered safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. A great many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.