Be a Master of Craps – Tips and Schemes: The History of Craps


Be clever, play clever, and become versed in craps the correct way!

Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French moved down south and found safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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