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Become Versed in Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The History of Craps

Be brilliant, play cunning, and master craps the right way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French moved south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is acquired from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.