Craps

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps developed from the old English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard through a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French relocated down south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and across the nation. Many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.