History of the Game of Craps

Dice games have been played since the Crusades period but the dice game as we know today, called craps is only about 100 years old. The game of craps, the modern craps variation evolved from the old English game named Hazard about which is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. The story goes that Sir William's knights played Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD, hence the name Hazard – from the castle name.

Then the hazard game was brought by early French settlers in Canada and in 1700 when the British relocated the French they moved south and found refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. They took the craps game with them and simplified it, creating a craps variation more mathematically fair. The dice game was given the name of craps from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From there, the craps game continued to travel, from Louisiana to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. In the world of modern craps, John H. Winn is considered to be the father of a modern dice and a modern craps layout. In 1907 he also added the Don't Pass line so craps players could bet on the dice to lose and later he invented the boxes for Place Bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardway bets.

For a game with such a long history it is hard to know exactly its evolution but these facts are the most accurate ones that you can verify. Also, no matter where from the game of craps evolved today is one of the most popular casino games among gamblers.