Be smart, play cunning, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. Many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.