The Rich History of the Game of Dice

Individuals have been enjoying dice for more than five thousand years now. Dice were formerly made of wood, bones and other things that can be found naturally back in those days. A gaming dice was dug up in Northern Iraq, which have been made back 3000 B.C. Dice games were already being enjoyed by Egyptians during the time of the pharaohs. Vikings and Roman soldiers enjoyed playing the dice as a past time. The dice that was dug up in Herculaneum has six faces. Romans named this dice tesserae.

Dice with four faces is known as Tali. Tali originated from ancient Greeks who made the dice from astragali or knucklebones of goat or sheep. Under the existing Roman law in those days, games of luck that are played for profit were not allowed. Evidence exists that gaming chips replaced actual cash in dice games. Large quantities of marked gaming chips were found throughout the remains of Roman Empire. These gaming chips or "roundels" were made from bone and showed digital markings on one face.

Some of the common markings that can be found on the dice are the Roman numeral numbers that we still know today. Before the middle ages, Arabs enjoy a game called "Azzahr" which uses a small number dice. Azzahr became known in France and its name was changed to Hasard. At some point before 1,500 A.D., it became known as Hazard. The modern variation of craps was made in France and England. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century in England, members of the aristocracy uses dice in the Hazard game, known to the masses as "Crabs" in their own homes. English named the dice roll with the smallest value "crabs". French players adopted the terms crabs but changes its spelling to crabes.

French players pronounced crabs as creps. During the 1700's, crabes was played in Acadia, a French colony. In 1755, the English captured Acadia from the French. Acadians, who naturally speaks French, transferred to Louisiana, where they became known as Cajun.

The Cajuns renamed hazard as creps or crebs. By 1843, the word crebs became known by its modern name, Craps. During 1907, John H. Winn, a dice maker from New York City, debut the very first craps bank. By using craps bank, craps player wager against the house, instead of against one another. John H. Winn then imposed charged to both right and wrong bettors a quarter for a five dollars wager and fifty cents for a ten dollars wager.

That quarter charger turned into a five percent charge. Because the five percent charge rake in s much cash, players changed its name to vigorish or vig. It is the advantage of the casino for rewarding something other than true probability for the various wagers.