Be smart, play smart, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps developed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed down south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.