Be a Master of Craps – Hints and Techniques: The Background of Craps


Be smart, play cunning, and discover how to play craps the proper way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and located sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and across the nation. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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