Be smart, play cunning, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French moved south and located safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.