Be a Master of Craps – Tips and Techniques: The Past of Craps

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Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s knights played Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French relocated down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and all over the nation. A good many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.