Be smart, play clever, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.