The History of Craps Games

The use of dice goes back well over 2 thousand years.  There is some support to the idea that a kind of craps was enjoyed as far back as during the time  of Roman Empire.  Roman soldiers used the bones of sheep and pigs, shaping the bones into cubes, and tossed them in some sort of game to kill time when in camp.  The sheep and pig bones employed in the initial formed dice are thought to be the basis of the expression “roll the bones”.

Originally it is believed that dice were used as an aid in predicting the future to help in making a decision.  Over the years, in part due to dice no longer being employed to tell the future, the symbols on them have changed from their original symbols into what we see on modern dice.

As with any pastime this ancient there are numerous theories as to the way the game developed.  One hypothesis has the source of the modern game of craps as an adaptation of a contest played by Arabs known as Azzahr since before the time of the Middle Ages.  After some time the game showed up in France where it was called Hasard, it then crossed the English Channel around 1500 where it was given the English spelling of Hazard.  Around the early 1700′s formal regulations for the game were made.

The French brought the game across the Atlantic when they established themselves in New France (Quebec and areas of Nova Scotia).  When the British defeated the French in the new world significant numbers of French settlers exited from Nova Scotia and ended up in Louisiana where they set up a new community.  The French settlers brought along the game of Hasard, however over the years began to call the game Crebs or Creps, their spelling of the French word Crabes (the lowest available denomination possible in the game was known as Crabes in French and Crabs by the English.  The word Craps (derived from the Cajun Creps or Crebs) has been used in America English as early as the year 1843.

The popular game migrated west along with the frontier, and nowadays is enjoyed all over America as well as in the rest of the world.  There are two common varieties of craps enjoyed today “Street Craps” and “Bank Craps”.  Recently another kind of craps is becoming popular an online version refered to as “Online Craps” .  Estimates place the number of dice players in America at thirty  million each year.