Be smart, play clever, and master craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps come about from the ancient English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated south and found refuge in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he established the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.