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

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. Most acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.