Master Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The Past of Craps
Posted in Craps on 01/12/2019 12:25 pm by Philip
Be brilliant, play brilliant, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps developed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French relocated south and located refuge in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Later, he invented the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.