Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.