The History of Craps

Craps is a very old dice game. It has been around for centuries and played by kings, soldiers and common people around the world. Although this is the case, many game historians and scholars are still debating the exact origin of this well loved dice game.

Many believed that craps is a descendant of a very old English game called "hazard". This game was invented during the time of the Third Crusade. Accordingly, it was Sir William of Tyre invented this game in order to help his fellow crusaders fight off boredom during a siege on the castle of "Hazarth". They used to play the game using pig knucklebones and roll it on their inverted shield.

When the siege was over and the crusaders went back to England, they brought this game along with them. English noblemen fell in love with the game along with other members of the English social class. It was noted that fortunes were one and loss in this game during those time.

When hazard was introduced to France, it became one of the favorite casino games. But in order to distinguish themselves from the English culture, the French decided to change the name of the game into "craps". Game scholars believe that the name was derived from the English nickname for the game, which is "crabs". The Frenchmen seemed to have mispronounced the "crabs", hence it became craps. Others believed that it is craps is derived from the word "crapeaud", which means frogs, referring to the peculiar liking of the French to these amphibians.

Craps was introduced to the United States by migrating French people during the colonization period. Accordingly, craps was brought in the country along with the establishment of the colony of Arcadia. Several years after, the British invading forces displaced the descendants of the Arcadians. The Arcadians were eventually known as the Cajuns and migrated to different parts of the country. With this, craps became known to different parts of the country.

As the Cajuns settled in the present-day Louisiana, several developments were made to improve craps gaming. In 1833, a man named Bernard de Mandeville changed some rules and made the game much simpler. After another century, craps was further improved by a dice-maker named John H. Winn. With his changes, he made it possible for players to bet for or against the one playing the role of the shooter.

Today, craps was not only played not only in casinos but also using the Internet