Become Versed in Craps – Tips and Techniques: The History of Craps


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

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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