Skip to content

Categories:

Learn to Play Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The Background of Craps

Be brilliant, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the proper way!

Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps evolved from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French moved down south and located refuge in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

Posted in Craps.


0 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

You must be logged in to post a comment.