Pickup Craps – Pointers and Strategies: The Background of Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French moved down south and discovered refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.