Craps History
Craps is a very popular game among land base and online casinos and it seems that the game is the offspring of a very old game called Hazard and both games leave the best historians debating for years as no one can be certain where these games first originated. This game has a vital part in the history of gambling and casinos.
Hazard - The Ancestor of Craps?
In 1125 AD Sir William of Tyre was the leader of a crusaders and they had come upon the castle which was named Asart or Hazarth. Sir William of Tyre and his knights placed a siege on the castle and their favorite pastime activity had won its name during this siege and the game was named after the castle.
There are scholars that believe Hazard originated from an Arabic dice game called "Al Zar" which means "dice" in Arabic and perhaps the game migrated to Europe with the help of merchants even before the 12th century.
There are evidences for dice games even in Egypt dating back to 2600BC which may prove that dice games did originated in the Arabic world which have a vital part in the craps history, but scholars can’t quite connect these finding to craps history, at least for now.
Craps in the 17th and 18th Centuries
The game Hazard received much popularity in England and in the 17th century there wasn't a single tavern in England where the game Hazard wasn't very well known. The game was played in luxuries casinos and many of the nobility were fond of Hazard.
The French adopted the game from their neighbors across the English Channel but changed the name in order to distinguish themselves from the Englishmen. The French called this game Craps which is a corruption of "Crabs". It is a name to describe a losing situation in Hazard in which the players rolls a 2. Even though there isn't evidence to support this theory, when people tend to talk about craps history then this assumption comes up quite often. Scholars believe that the name "craps" originated in America, again as a result of a corruption of the term "crabs".
Hazard arrived to America with the help of British or French settlers (no one can tell which people brought the game to the New World). There the game moved south along the coastline and the game become a popular pastime activity, and just like the history of poker, there the game was developed by John H. Winn even further.
Craps in the 19th Century
In the beginning of the 19th century craps history takes another turn as John H. Winn simplified Craps and invented the modern layout to the game (which was first know as the Philadelphia layout). According to John Scarne, a famous dice maker, John H. Winn is "the father of modern craps". Winn brought to the games the Pass and Don't Pass bets, the Big 6 and 8 and it was only thanks to him that now players were able to place bets against the shooter. Basically saying, he invented the craps rules.
The new variety of bets not only put a stop to the use of crooked dice (since now players could bet against the shooter) but it also pushed the game's popularity into the sky.
Craps History in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Craps become world-famous during the 20th and 21st centuries. In World War 2 soldiers of both sides played craps and used it to pass the time between actual fighting. The game migrated with U.S soldiers to distant parts of the world and today there are few places on Earth where the game is not know. Also, in many movies there are numerous shots of craps games, this also pushed craps forward into the public's mind.
But as the decades past, and especially in the beginning of the 1990's, slots caused a decrease in the popularity of craps games, but thanks to the internet age the game managed to pull back its honor. Everyday thousands of people play online craps. If you want, you can go back and download one of our reliable online casinos and to play craps games.
Susan McClary - Senior Editor.
Tuesday, March 09, 2006