Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.