Be clever, play cunning, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.