The game Craps is believed to come from the game Hazard, which was invented around 1125 AD. This game is believed to be invented by the Englishman, Sir Williams of Tyre during the overtaking of a castle called Hazarth or Asart, therefore the name of the game is corruption of the name of that castle. But there is another story to the origination of the game , in Encyclopedia Britannica it is written that Hazard came from Arabic words ‘al zar’ or ‘azzah’ which in english means “the dice” and so this implies that Hazard (later Craps) was invented in Arabia .
After its invention the country of England fell in love with the game , frequently mentioned in the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and played by the Englishmen through the years . Sometime around 15-16th century the French took up playing the Hazard and its believed that they changed the name to Craps, using a corruption in the name given to a losing throw of 2 when playing Hazard, known as ‘crabs’.
Later the game arrived in America through the French Louisiana colony of Arcadia. It was later simplified and turned to the first version of craps in 1813 by Bernard de Mandeville of New Orleans. With these changes the game start to spread in the United States of America and became popular through the rich men. But the Mandeville’s version of Craps had a major flaw – with everybody only betting on the pass line a pair of fixed dice was death to the game’s owner, the players could strip them for everything they got. So to stop this they invented the don’t pass line and the don’t come to neutralize this effect somewhat .
Over the years the game of Craps became more and more popular . In the World Wars, soldiers were playing the game using the version we know today to entertain themselves . Even movies were using the game in their story lines as casino craps took over the gambling word.
Around 1990 the game lost a little bit of its luster do to the fact of Slot Machines, Carnival Games, etc. But recently over the past several years it has made a strong come back .
If you are ever interested in learning how to play the game of craps you can always approach the dealers and ask them on your next trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. There are plenty of online craps lessons as well.
One other thing to consider is you might think about Managing your Money wisely while playing craps. There are some good Craps Money Management Systems out there, or ask the Dealer the next time you decide to play, but most importantly have fun.
