Craps is a popular dice game typically played in a casino as well as informal settings. It is played with a pair of dice in which players bet on dice rolls. When one is playing Craps, money is then wagered against either the casino or the other players in the game. When someone plays against the other players outside of a casino setting, it is called street craps. Street craps can be played in any informal setting (i.e. on the sidewalk or “street”, hence the name) because it does not require much equipment to play, other than dice and players with money in their pockets.

History

Craps history, like many age-old casino games, is comprised of several theories on where the game originated, making it a bit hard to decipher the exact origin of the game. The game of Craps likely developed over time and involves a little bit of all these widely believed theories. Some theories suggest the game is based on the Old English game called Hazard and a French game called Crabes. Bernard Xavier Phillipe, a Louisiana gambler and politician, introduced the game to New orleans, Louisiana around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. There was however a problem with this version of the game in that it was easily manipulated so that players could use fixed dice to cheat and push the odds in their favor. In 1907, John H. Winn created an updated version of the dice game that included a “don’t pass bet” area, making the game more akin to Craps as we know it today, and also eliminating the fixed dice problem.