Craps

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Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the country. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. Later, he established the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.