Chapter 1-The Dice Camp First

Brief History | The Game Of Hazard | The Game Of Craps

Dice were probably evolved from knucklebones, and knucklebones from odd-shaped pebbles. The word "probably" is used because those small cubes of bone, ivory, wood or plastic have a contradictory, but romantic, history. We'll touch upon some of it here for the sake of the curious.

One thing seems certain, knucklebones or dice go back nearly to the creation of man. And wherever dice have been found, whether in the- tombs of ancient Egypt, of classic Greece, or of the far East, they differ in no material respect from those in use today. Of course, they were not always simple spotted cubes. Some were elongated or octagonal or with as many as fourteen flat surfaces. But all the surfaces had their different values and were counted, like dice.

It is almost impossible to trace clearly the development of dice as distinguished from knucklebones. In the beginning, dice had anywhere from six to twenty flat sides of different values, and knucklebones had only four. Ancient writers confused the two games, and rarely agreed on the origin of either. It is certain, however, that both were played in times before written records were kept.

Sophocles tells us that a Greek invented the game of dice, and taught it to his countrymen during the seige of Troy. Herodotus, the so-called "Father of History," says the Lydians invented knucklebones, dice and all other games except chess. Then, too, dicing is credited with being an old Indian game.

These early examples can be found in the Smithsonian Institute. Dice similar to those used today have been used from earliest times, being found among ancient relics in Egypt, the Mediterranean and the Far East. As the illustration shows, dice were pretty crude in the beginning.

No matter who started it, we know that dicing was a popular form of amusement even in ancient times. In Greece, the upper classes especially played the game as part of their drinking banquets. During the luxurious days of the empire, the Romans were passionate gamblers, casting their dice of crystal inlaid with gold from dice-beakers of carved ivory. Among the gamblers of the day were such big names as Augustus, Mark Antony and Nero.

Even then, there were those who wrote books on dicing, built special rooms in their palaces for it, sat up all night playing it, and those who cheated at it. Society soon took to the game, much as ours did with "Monopoly" and "Canasta" years back. Professional gamblers were common. Loaded dice came into being some are preserved in museums and private homes became the resorts of gamblers. Special laws followed naturally, such as a person who allowed gambling in his home could not bring suit against another even if cheated.

Next the barbarians discovered the game of dice, possibly taught to them by their Roman conquerors. They loved it so much that, after losing their material possessions, they would gamble their personal freedom. During the Middle Ages, both knights and their ladies played dice. In France, dicing schools and clubs were formed, despite the legislation which tried to abolish the game. Soon India, the Far East, and a good part of the entire world held dicing in common.

More modern times saw dicing develop from games in which the players simply rolled for "high" using from one to six dice to a game called "Hazard" employing only a pair of dice. They were spotted as those today opposite sides add up to seven that is, 1 is opposite 6, 2 is opposite 5 and 3 is opposite 4. Of course, there were those that didn't add up as such, but we'll talk about those crooked cubes later.

Everyone seems to agree that Hazard started in England, reaching its peak in the early 1800's. It was adopted by the French who added many new features, and finally the game migrated to the U.S.A. to New Orleans. Hazard, in its true form, was a rather detailed game, too detailed to be discussed here; so we'll point out only the fundamentals, enough for you to see how Craps came about.

Equipment for Hazard consists of a dice cup, two dice, and some sort of a table, board or flat surface on which to throw.

One player, the "caster," starts the roll, but first he names a number called a "main" such as 7 and places his money on the table to be covered by the other players called "setters."

During the luxurious days of the empire the Romans were passionate gamblers. Such big names as Augustus, Mark Antony and Nero were among the gamblers of the day.

In London, the players wore masks when they played Hazard. The purpose might have been to conceal their identities because many a player lost sums between $50,000 and $100,000 in a single evening.

Reckless French Gamblers

In France, some of the most reckless, but skillful, gamblers of the era included King George IV, Napoleon and Beau Brummel. It's reported that King George IV had gambled away over $4,000,000 before he was 21.

If the caster rolls a 7, it's called a "nick" and he wins. The number 11 is also a winning nick. The numbers 2, 3 or 12 are "crabs" or losing numbers.

If any other number — the 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — appear, it is called the "chance." From then on, that is the number which the caster must throw, and the "main" becomes the setter's number. For example, if the caster throws a 6 on his first roll, he would have to roll another 6 to win. A 7 now is a loser.

Roughly, that's the game of hazard as played in the 1800's in most of the better clubs of London, Paris and New Orleans. In elegance as well as stakes, it far outmatched the game of Craps as we know it today. Amounts as high as $50,000 to $100,000 were won and lost in a single evening. And some of the most reckless but skillful gamblers of the era included King George IV, Napoleon and Beau Brummel.

But naturally, Hazard had its sharpies. That dice cup and some clever fingering offered the crooked gambler numerous advantages. For instance, a forefinger could give one die another turn if it rolled out the unwanted number — and many such other "controlling" features were soon introduced after some practice, along with loaded dice, not so honest dice cups and the rest of it.

As stated earlier, the game of Hazard reached New Orleans around the middle 1800's. And the Americans, thinking themselves less-complicated anyway than the French or English, simplified that elegant and detailed game into one for the masses. The American Negro called it "Craps" — and for this term the French must be given half the credit. For when they played Hazard and rolled a 2, 3 or 12 (Crabs), they mispronounced that term, calling it "Creps." Then the Negro did his mispronouncing, and "Creps" became "Craps."

The game found the back alleys of New Orleans, spread throughout the South, and with the aid of deck hands on steamboats, the "Mississippi Gambler" came into his own. But the game became so crooked that it lost favor with all except the crook. For some fifty years it stayed in the backyards of the South. It was a far cry, this crude game of Craps, from its dignified father, Hazard.

But you couldn't keep a game like Craps down forever. It came back and up again in favor with the Pullman car. Businessmen with education and high incomes learned the game, adding to it some of the long-forgotten and systematic features of Hazard. By World War I Craps was well on its way to indelible popularity. And what soldier in that war or any war since hasn't, at least once, lost a month's pay or even won someone else's with a few rolls of the dice?

Crap games and those galloping cubes have come a long way since the caveman rolled his odd-shaped pebbles* Just how he determined different values with those pebbles isn't known for certain. Possibly, when a certain shape came up — he won a wife or something?

Crap games and those galloping cubes have come a long way since the caveman rolled his odd-shaped pebbles. Undoubtedly, legalized gambling in Nevada, since 1931, and the gigantic operations found in the gambling houses there must be credited with much of the advancement. And whether this is good or bad is not the business of this book. Laws or no laws, people will gamble and lose more than they can afford. They will let themselves be cheated. They will play the "sucker" and the "fool." Only knowledge of the method of play, the mathematical odds and percentages, and common sense will keep Craps or any other gambling game what it was ideally meant to be — an honest game of chance.

Maybe this book will help toward that end.