Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Modern craps developed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.