The game known as Craps is among the most confusing and exciting forms of casino gambling. If you happen to hear an uproar coming from any of the tables, you can almost be certain that the center of attention is two tumbling dice. The pace is fast. The potential winnings are huge. And the game itself is paradoxically simple and complex.
A Long History
Games played with dice are among the oldest forms of gambling. According to Greek mythology, the Olympian gods threw dice to determine how to split up the Universe. That’s how Zeus, the big winner, got his place in the heavens, Poseidon was given control over the seas, and the loser, Hades, ended up with the underworld as his domain.
Some 10,000 years ago, our human ancestors used four-sided sheep hucklebones called astragali for recreational purposes—“throwing bones.” By 3000 B.C., players began filing the bones into cubes so that they would roll more smoothly. Eventually, more consistent materials, such as ivory, jade and wood, were used to make the cubes, and six-sided dice were born.
The addition of pips (dots or spots) to mark their faces came into vogue around 1300 B.C. By 500 B.C., a board game using dice became popular in India— Parcheesi—and two hundred years later, another enduring dice-based board game evolved to become Backgammon.
