Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Schemes: The Past of Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.