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

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French relocated south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.