Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the British, the French moved south and discovered safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.