Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the birth of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and found refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.