Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps formed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he created the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
This entry was posted on April 12, 2025, 7:25 am and is filed under Craps. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.