Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French relocated down south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he invented the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.