Craps

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and located refuge in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.