Be clever, play brilliant, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps developed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French headed south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.