02.18
Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Plans: The History of Craps
Be smart, play cunning, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French moved down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He put in place 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.