Be smart, play cunning, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.