Be clever, play clever, and master craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo 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 Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.