Be smart, play cunning, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.