Be clever, play clever, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps come about from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French moved south and found refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the non-winning toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. A good many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.