Shooting craps

This game, played by rolling two dice, gets its name from one of two sources – both of them firmly embedded in the Creole French of Louisiana. The more colorful theory has it that a Creole gambler named Bernard Marigny but nicknamed Johnny Crapaud introduced the game in New Orleans about 1800. Known first as “Crapaud’s game,” the label was soon shorted to craps.

A more scholarly theory of the origin traces it the French word crabs or craps which was the term for the lowest possible throw in an obsolete dice game called “hazard.” Since the term craps or “crap out,” is still used to indicate the lowest possible throw in the contemporary game (two) the latter theory seems more sound.