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

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was gotten from the name of the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.