Craps

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Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps come about from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the British, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.