02.19
Master Craps – Tips and Plans: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and across the nation. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.