Be a Master of Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The History of Craps
Posted in Craps on 11/16/2015 03:21 pm by Donovan
Be cunning, play smart, and master craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the non-winning toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.