Craps History

Today a relic of the most ancient forms of gambling still survives and is used in many popular casino games. The common dice was born in prehistoric times. Fashioned from stones, bones, carvings and teeth, dice were used to predict the future and fortunes of entire civilizations. As man progressed, dice began to be made of semi precious metals and wood. Digs from early Roman and Greek civilizations showed that these cultures included dice made from ivory and gemstones.

Games involving dice have been popular worldwide since prehistory. The Arab world played dice games from ancient times, with the dice being an integral part of their culture. The use of knucklebones was common among American Indian tribes, and dice were also used in India and Korea for recreational purposes. Well-known historical figures such as Caligula, Nero and Augustus of Roman were known for popularising dice games in their own eras.

Although every age and civilization has produced its own variations of dice games, one that has survived to the present day is the simple game of craps. Believed to have originated in the 12 th century in England as a derivative of the game Hazard, the game of craps was played in the Crusades by English soldiers and eventually made its way with settlers to the United States on the famous voyage of the Mayflower.

Known by its French name craps rather than by its English name of Hazard, craps became popular in New Orleans in the nineteenth century. In New Orleans the game underwent a series of rule changes. Variations and spin-offs of the original Hazard were produced during the period that casino tables and their layouts were introduced and modified continuously. Table Off was one spin-off from craps or Hazard that became especially popular in gambling circles for its fast and furious pace.

However when gambling was legalized in 1931 in Nevada, it was a variation of craps created by John H. Winn that became everyone’s favorite version of craps. And with the introduction of craps into the world’s casinos came the gambler’s desire to beat the odds at any cost.