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

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.