The History of Craps

The history of craps is still subject to much debate among game historians up to the present date. Due to the long history of using dice as a gambling tool, it is very hard to trace where the first game of craps was played.

Some game scholars say that the earliest predecessor of craps is a game played by soldiers of the Roman legion. While on camp, these roman soldiers used to roll a tool similar to dice and made out of pig knucklebones. They roll these knuckle bones on their inverted shield as a form of entertainment.

Roman Emperors and ancient Egyptians also have their share of dice game entertainment. It was noted in the pages of history that Nero and Caligula have enjoyed, and in fact, have attempted to cheat in dice games.

But it was in the period of the crusades when the first dice game closest antecedent to the game of craps as we know it today was first played. It was said that when the crusaders during the 12th century were attacking a castle named "Hazarth", they used to play a dice game made of knuckle bones. They eventually named the game as "Hazard", as a corruption of the name of the castle they were attacking.

Some years after the crusade, these soldiers brought "Hazard" back to England. This dice game became famous not only among soldiers but also among English noblemen and high-ranked officials of the King's court.

The popularity of "Hazard" did not last linger much longer inside the English border. It eventually crossed boarders until it reached France. The French grew fond of this dice game and decided to make the game their own by a change to its name. They renamed the game "craps", deriving from the word "crabs", which is a dice roll resulting to a value of one for each die.

Craps reached the United States of America through the French colonists who settled in the former colony of Arcadia. As they were displaced by the British colonizers, they traveled across the nation carrying the tradition of the game of craps.

A new phase of the game of craps has dawned when John H. Winn, a well-known dice-maker, altered some rules and changed the table lay-out of the game. This allowed crap players to bet on either for or against the shooter. With this, he created the version of craps popular in casinos up to know. Hence, he was named the Father of Modern Craps.

Until the last decade of the 20th century, craps became one of the most popular dice games in casinos. Although it has experienced some setback due to other popular casino card games, it came back and once again a favorite among dice rollers around the world.