Be smart, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. A good many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.