Master Craps – Pointers and Techniques: The History of Craps
by Larry on Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
Be smart, play clever, and become versed in 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. Current craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he invented the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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