Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French relocated south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.