Craps

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Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French moved down south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. Most acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he designed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.