the first roll of the dice in a betting round is called the "come out" roll. Pass bets win when the come out roll is 7 or 11, while pass bets lose when the come out roll is 2, 3, or 12. Don't bets lose when the come out roll is 7 or 11, and don't bets win when the come out roll is 2 or 3. Don't bets tie when the come out roll is 12 (2 in some casinos; the "bar" roll on the layout indicates which roll is treated as a tie)

Some gamblers believe that you can recover your losses by doubling your bet every time you lose. This is known as the Martingale system. The idea is that when you win, the win will be big enough to cover your previous losses. There are two problems with this system: You may run out of money before you win. You can only double your bet so many times because of table limits, and so occasionally you will hit the table limit before winning – and this will be very expensive.

If the shooter is winning, the dice are not passed on. The dice are only passed to the next player if the shooter sevens-out (rolls a seven) or decides not to continue rolling. In the Internet version of Craps, the player loses if there is a seven-out and can end the game at any time provided there are no bets placed. Pass Line and Don't Pass Line bets are made on the shooter's "Come Out" roll. All other bets are placed after the come out, once a "point" has been determined, and work independent of the "pass line" and "don't pass" bets.

According to Richard Epstein, craps is descended from an earlier game known as Hazard, that dates to the Middle Ages. The formal rules for Hazard were established by Montmort early in the 1700s. The origin of the name craps is shrouded in doubt, but it may have come from the English crabs, or from the French Crapeaud (for toad)