Be clever, play smart, and master craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Current craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. A great many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.