Be smart, play clever, and pickup craps the proper way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French relocated south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.