Learn to Play Craps – Tricks and Plans: The History of Craps


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

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about one hundred years old. Modern craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French relocated south and discovered refuge in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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