Become Versed in Craps – Pointers and Techniques: The Background of Craps

Be cunning, play smart, and pickup craps the proper way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. Many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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