Craps Tips

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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Modern craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.