Craps TipsBeginner Craps Tips

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps developed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.