Be smart, play clever, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the old English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.