The History of Craps Game
The Origin of Dice
The history of Craps is analogous with the history of dice themselves. Dice define Craps. They are the tools of the trade. Therefore, it is a good idea to review the origin and background of dice to better grasp what Craps is all about. And, by the way, the word die is the singular for dice. Two die make a pair of dice.
Dice are the oldest playing tools known to human kind, since reliable historical records show that countless social and gambling games have been played with them over the centuries. They are used in games like Liar's Dice, Backgammon, Monopoly, Snakes, Ladders and hundreds of other board games, where two or more dice are thrown to determine the players? moves.
Sophocles, a Greek playwright (circa 496 BC) and Herodotus, a Greek author (circa 484), both claimed dice were invented, not surprisingly, by the Greeks. Both claims, however, have been discredited by numerous archeological finds that prove that dice were used in many earlier societies.
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, cubical dice with markings, practically equivalent to those of modern times, have been excavated from Egyptian tombs dating from 2000 BC. It is believed that dice were originally magical devices that primitive people tossed around to tell the future. The probable forerunners of dice were knucklebones (the anklebones of sheep) marked on four sides.
The facts illustrate that people of many ancient cultures, including North American Indians, the Aztec and Mayans, the South Sea islanders, the Eskimo and the African, gambled with dice made with many materials, curious shapes and markings.
Dice used by those societies were sometimes made of plum and peach seeds, stones, bones from buffalos, caribous, and moose, deer horns, pebbles, walnut shells, and even beaver and woodchuck teeth. In later Greek and Roman times, although most dice were made with bones and ivory, others were made out of bronze, agate, rock crystal, onyx, jet, alabaster, marble, amber, porcelain, and other materials.
Modern dice are almost all made of cellulose or any other plastic material. There are two kinds of dice being used today, perfect dice and round-cornered or imperfect dice. Perfect dice are just that. They are perfectly cut by hand, with measures of 0.0005 of an inch or 0.0013 centimeters. Perfect dice are used mostly in gambling casinos for playing Craps. The round-cornered, or imperfect dice are machine-made and are generally used to play social and board games.
The Origin of Craps
Like early claims made about the origin of other popular casino games, the history of Craps is also somewhat obscure. The North American version of Craps, which is also known as Bank Craps, New York Craps or Las Vegas Craps, dates back from the 14th century. The game is believed to have been a derivation from the European game Hazard, which is very similar to the current Craps game.
During that early era, Hazard was very popular in English and French gambling rooms and was played for high stakes. In the English version of Hazard, the shooter would throw against the other player(s); in the French version, he would throw against the house. The North American name for Craps comes from the nickname Crabs, which refers to a throw of aces (1-1) in a game of Hazard. The current rules for Craps were also derived from its European version.
Craps was introduced to the United States during the 1700's and has been played in North America ever since. Gambling was legal in western United States from the 1850's to 1910. At that time, the state of Nevada made it a felony to operate a gambling game. In 1931, however, Nevada legalized casino gambling, where Craps became one of the primary games of chance available. In fact, in the early days of Western gambling halls, Poker and Craps were the main games of choice for the high rollers.
In 1978, casino gambling was legalized in Atlantic City, New Jersey. By 1989, only two states had legalized casino gambling. Since then, literally hundreds of casinos have sprung up online and offshore, while over 20 states have opened a number of small independent casinos in places such as Black Hawk and Cripple Creek, Colorado, and in river boats on the Mississippi.
Currently, an estimate of 70 Native North American reservations are also operating or building casinos. In addition to the United States, other countries that operate casinos include France, England, Monaco (Monte Carlo), Canada, several countries of Central and South America and many in the Caribbean. Craps tables can be found in any one of these locations without difficulty.
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