Master Craps – Tips and Tactics: The History of Craps

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

Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A great many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

  1. No comments yet.

  1. No trackbacks yet.

You must be logged in to post a comment.