Pickup Craps – Hints and Tactics: The Background of Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps come about from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved 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 acquired 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 barges and all over the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.