Be smart, play cunning, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers wagered on Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.