Learn to Play Craps – Tips and Plans: The Past of Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and located safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the country. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.