Be smart, play smart, and pickup craps the right way!

Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is supposed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French moved south and discovered refuge in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is acquired from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the nation. A good many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.