Games
of chance involving "dice"
have been around since the
dawn of civilization. The
earliest dice were probably
shaped from animal bone or
carved from hardwoods like
ebony and oak. We know that
Roman soldiers tossed pig
knuckles onto their shields
more than two thousand years
ago in a game some called
"bones". But where
did Craps come from - and
how did it get that name?
The answer to both questions
is certainly open to debate,
but here is one take on the
convoluted journey from pig
knuckles to a casino classic:
Arabs adopted the Legionnaire's
pastime of "throwing
the bones" (tossing dice)
when they expanded into former
Roman provinces. They called
their small, numbered cubes
"azzahr". At some
time during trade with Europeans
in the Middle Ages, this dice
game came back across the
Mediterranean to be adopted
by the French as "hasar"
or "hasard". During
the interminable wars between
France and England during
the 13th and 14th Centuries,
English knights brought the
game home as "hazard"
- meaning to take a chance
or to put at risk (as in "hazard
a guess").
As the English played the
game, they called the lowest
roll "crabs". In
the aftermath of yet another
war, French soldiers picked
up this variation from their
English prisoners but, maintaining
their linguistic independence,
used the French word "crabes".
Early in the 18th Century,
French colonists took the
game to the Canadian wilderness.
As England extended its reach
north from the American colonies,
some of the displaced French-speaking
Canadians migrated to Louisiana
where, by the end of the century,
a simplified version of Hazard
lost its English name and
became known simply as "creps",
the Cajun spelling of crabes.
As Cajun riverboat men journeyed
up the Mississippi, the venerable
dice game was again introduced
to English speakers, this
time American frontiersmen,
who adopted the game and corrupted
the name to "craps".
As Americans spread out across
the West, they made craps
a mainstay of every saloon
and casino in the land. After
the U.S. Civil War, a dice
maker introduced an innovation
that made imperfectly manufactured
dice a non-issue: players
could bet for or against the
roller. As the popularity
of craps continued to grow,
various bets (like the Hardways
and Horn bets) were incorporated
to add some spice and give
players more ways to win.
Today, craps is one of the
most popular games in any
casino. Craps tables are easy
to spot on the casino floor
- they're the ones where large
crowds have gathered round
to watch the thrilling action
in rapt fascination.
