Be cunning, play cunning, and pickup craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is believed 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 colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He appended 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.