Be clever, play clever, and become versed in craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps developed from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the current craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.