Be brilliant, play cunning, and become versed in craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. A few think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.