Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.