06.03
Pickup Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play smart, and pickup craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps formed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. Most consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.