Be brilliant, play clever, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s horsemen enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the country. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to not win. Later, he established the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.