Dice and dice games go back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Modern day craps evolved from the archaic British game named Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s rumored that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard for the duration of a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was developed from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada (the colony of Acadia, which is Nova Scotia today). In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French relocated south and happen upon refuge in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more statistically fair. It is said that the Cajuns amended the name of the game to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the dice game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and across the territory. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern day craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps table design. He added the Don’t Pass line so folks could bet on the shooter to lose. Later, he developed the areas for Place bets and added the Big six, Big 8, and Hardways.
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