A Brief History
The exact origin of Craps like many things in life is disputed, it
may be derived from ancient Arab bone rolling games / rituals that
were used to predict the will of the Gods from which many dice games
are said to have evolved, it probably then worked its way through
France to England and then on to America. There was an English dice
game called Hazard which migrated to America with the early settlers
towards the end of the eighteenth century, Hazard gives the bank a
good advantage and it is believed that Craps was developed as a fairer
version, the name possibly coming from the term Crabs, the roll of
two aces in the game of Hazard. Craps took over from Faro as the main
gambling game in Ameria and is now the most popular dice game in the
world.
Overview of the Game
Craps is played with two dice which are thrown by a 'shooter' on
a long table with boards from one to two feet highsurrounding the
table.
The game is played in two stages, after the initial bets are placed
the shooter throws the dice. If a seven or eleven is thrown that is
a natural and the throw is over, players betting on the shooter win.
If two, three or twelve are thrown these are known as 'craps' and
bets on the shooter are lost. If on the otherhand the shooter rolls
a four, five, six, eight, nine or ten this number is known as his
point. In a land casino this is marked with a disc called a buck.
The shooter then continues to throw until he either rolls the number
again 'makes his point', in which case bets on the shooter win, or
thows a seven when bets on the shooter loose.
These simple rules are added to by a range of bets that players can
make both for and against the shooter, see our Craps
Bets page for descriptions of the various bets and our
Craps Odds
page to calculate your best options.