Be cunning, play clever, and learn how to play craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French moved south and located sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it 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 snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn created the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.