Master Craps – Tips and Tactics: The History of Craps


Be cunning, play clever, and learn how to play craps the correct way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps developed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French headed down south and found sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A few acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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