Dice games have been in existence for at least two thousand years, with evidence existing of dice games being played as long ago as during the era of Roman Empire.  Troops used the bones of sheep and pigs, shaped them into cubes and tossed the bones in a contest to pass time in camp; this is thought to be the foundation of the phrase “roll them bones”.

Originally it is believed that dice were used as a utility in fortune telling to help in decision making.  In the vast number of years since then the dice signs in use have changed into the digit signs that we observe on current dice; also the employment of dice in fortune telling and to aid in making decisions is no longer employed.

As with any game this old there are numerous thoughts as to how the game developed.  A popular hypothesis has the game of craps originating in a pastime played by Arabs since before the time of the Middle Ages known as Azzahr.  After a time the game showed up in France where it was called Hasard, sometime around 1500 the game made it across the English Channel where it acquired the English spelling Hazard.  Official regulations for Hazard had been made by the early 1700’s.

The French brought the game over the Atlantic when they established themselves in New France (Quebec and parts of Nova Scotia).  When the British defeated the French in the new world substantial numbers of French settlers left Nova Scotia and migrated to Louisiana where they made a new settlement.  When they settled in Louisiana they brought with them the game of Hasard, however as time went on the games name evolved into Creps or Crebs (this is the lowest value available in the game and is called Crabs by the English and Crabes by the French).  The name Craps (derived from the Cajun Creps or Crebs) was in use in America English as early on as the year 1843.

Craps migrated west as the frontier moved west and is currently played all over the United States as well as being enjoyed in the rest of the planet.  The two common kinds of craps played today are “Bank Craps” and “Street Craps”; however a additional form of web-based craps “Online Craps” growing in popularity.  Estimates conservatively put the number of U.S. citizens that play dice games yearly at 30 million.