Master Craps – Pointers and Plans: The History of Craps


Be clever, play smart, and become versed in craps the correct way!

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French moved down south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

  1. No comments yet.

You must be logged in to post a comment.