Pickup Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The Past of Craps


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

Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard through a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French relocated south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. A great many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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