Pickup Craps – Hints and Schemes: The History of Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody 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 horsemen bet on Hazard amid a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the British, the French relocated south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. Later, he designed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.