History of Craps

The use of dice goes back well over two millennium.  There is some support to the idea that a form of craps was enjoyed as long ago as during the Roman Empire.  Soldiers used to form the bones of pigs and sheep into cubes, and toss them in a game to entertain themselves while in camp.  This is thought to be the source governing the phrase “roll the bones”.

The first use of dice is believed to have been as a fortune telling device to help with decision making.  Over the years the initial symbols used for predicting the future have been changed to the symbols we currently see on dice, as dice were no longer made use of for fortune telling.

Everything this ancient has a fuzzy history and as such the roots of Craps have a number of theories .  One theory regarding the roots of the game claims that it has its origins in a game played by Arabs for 1000′s of years called Azzahr.  After some time the game showed up in France there it was renamed Hasard, and about the year 1500 the game made it across the English Channel and Hasard was changed to the English spelling of Hazard.  The game continued to change however by the early 1700’s the rules governing the game had been well known.

The French delivered the game over the Atlantic whenever they settled in New France (Quebec and parts of Nova Scotia).  After the French were defeated by the British in the new world a vast number of of the French in Nova Scotia decided they would rather not remain in Canada, so they moved south and ultimately ended up in Louisiana where they established themselves.  When they settled in Louisiana they brought along the game of Hasard, however as the years passed the games name evolved into Creps or Crebs (this refers to the smallest value available in the game and is called Crabes by the French and Crabs by the English).  The Cajun name was changed in American English to Craps not later than the year 1843.

The well-liked dice game moved west along with the frontier, and today is played all over The U.S. and the rest of the world.  There are two general types of craps played today “Street Craps” and “Bank Craps”.  recently an internet version – “Online Craps” is becoming well-liked.  Estimates put the number of dice participants in America at 30 million each year .