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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps come about from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the British, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
This entry was posted on September 27, 2025, 11:25 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.