History of Craps

Craps as a very long history, it goes way back before it ever made an appearance in online casinos or the flashy casinos located on the Las Vegas strip as a game that draws crowds of excited spectators ready to cheer on those playing the games. Craps didn’t start out with the name it’s know by today, but another game that goes back centuries that has similar concepts that has been said to inspire the actual game of craps.

There is no certain history for craps, it has been debated but many historians believe that craps was based on the game Hazards. A great subject of debate with these games is whether craps or Hazards was the game that came first - one was likely based on the other but the order is questionable.

When the game of Hazards first began it was around 1125 AD and the leader of the Crusaders, Sir William Tyre and his knights were known to play a dice game that may have been similar to this historical games, but at a later date the game they played was labelled to be Hazards. Some theories say that Hazard wasn’t the original game, that it might have been based on Al Zar, which is an Arabic dice game which they believe may have come to Europe with immigrants around the 12th century or even earlier as merchants were crossing to the region.

There is also evidence that there may have been another dice game in Egypt around 2600BC which may also have played a role in the development and popularity of Craps throughout history.

By the 17th Century Hazard was one of the most popular games in England, often played in taverns and even in some luxury casinos were many of the nobles frequently played. The game also found its way across the English Channel to the French, but they changed the name to Crabs in order to make a difference between the English version. Many historians believe that the French name for the game was the one that inspired the name craps, and although there’s no proof, just by the sound alone it seems to make sense! Later Hazard made its way to America with settlers from Britain and/or France and it was picked up by many people of the region.

By the 19th Century, Craps as we know it came to be in some ways, when John H. Winn created a layout of the game in order to make the game much more simple. With this, he also created some of the key bets in craps including Pass and Don’t Pass Bets, Big 8 and 8’s. By this time it’s also believed that the option to bet for or against the shooter so really, he can be considered the one to put many of the craps rules in place. Crooked dice were also eliminated with the new rules, which made it more widely played.

The popularity of craps really grew around the 20th and 21st centuries when World War 2 soldiers began playing the game as a pastime between fighting, and the game was spread around the world with these soldiers as they travelled. By the 1990’s, craps made its debut as online craps but, while they were once the most popular gambling game, its popularity declined as online slots took center stage.