Be smart, play clever, and discover how to play craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite 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 was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the country. A good many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.