Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Modern day craps evolved from the archaic British game known as Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been developed by the British man, Sir William of Tyre, in the 1300’s. It’s rumored that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard for the duration of a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was developed from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada (the area of Acadia, which is Nova Scotia today). In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French moved south and discovered refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Nova Scotia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the dice game and developed it to be more statistically attractive. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name of the game to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the dice game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many think the die maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps table design. He added the Don’t Pass line so individuals could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big six, Big 8, and Hardways.
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