Pickup Craps – Pointers and Strategies: The Past of Craps

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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. Most acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he created the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.