Craps

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French relocated down south and found safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He added the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.