[ English ]

Be brilliant, play clever, and become versed in craps the correct way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and all over the country. A good many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he designed the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.