A Brief History of Craps
Craps, or the origins of the game, dates back thousands of years. Early
cultures in different corners of the world, for instance Egypt and Mesopotamia,
all developed dice-related activities long before the Christian years
got positive value. Here’s a brief look at how dice games and craps developed.
Producing perfect cubes was a tough task back in the days, but both Native
Americans and later Roman soldiers manage to find a solution to this problem.
They took knucklebones from oxen, which are very symmetrical, and shaped
recreational cubes. So when you hear someone say “roll the bones” in a
casino you know where the phrase derives from. The invention of dice led
to the development of quite a few (mostly forgotten) games, and later,
the modern type of craps we find in casinos all around the world.
Craps spawned from hazard, which most likely came from an Arab dice game
called az-zahr. It became very popular in France and England in the 18th
and 19th centuries and is even mentioned in Chaucer’s classic work The
Canterbury Tales. The French then brought the game with them to the new
world, and on the riverboats going from Louisiana up on the Mississippi,
craps was developed. Later, when the modern table was introduced, craps
took its modern form and became an instant hit. |
