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. Current craps formed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.