Be smart, play clever, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French moved south and discovered safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and across the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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