Bingo Calls

A bingo call is the nickname a caller gives a number before reading it out, as in “legs eleven, number eleven.” The tradition belongs to 90-ball bingo, the British game, and it is heard in halls across the United Kingdom. Most of the 90 numbers have a call of their own, and some have two or three.

The calls began as a way to be heard. In a large, noisy hall a number said once is easy to mishear, above all where two numbers share a sound, such as thirteen and thirty. A phrase that rhymes with the number, or pictures its digits, gives the ear a second chance, and over the years the calls became part of the entertainment as well.

The full list follows in three tables of thirty numbers, each call with where it comes from, and then a glossary of the words used in a hall and on screen. How the ticket and its three prizes work is covered on the 90-ball bingo page.

Every bingo call from Kelly's eye to top of the shop, where each one comes from, and the words you will hear in a bingo hall.

PlayGuidePro Team

How a Number Is Called

A caller usually reads each ball in three parts: the call, then the digits one at a time, then the number as a whole. Number 23 comes out as “the Lord is my shepherd, two and three, twenty-three,” and 55 as “snakes alive, both the fives, fifty-five.” Reading the digits separately settles whether a number is in the teens or the fifties before anyone has to guess.

Most calls fall into four kinds. Many are plain rhymes, such as rise and shine for 29. Others draw the shape of the digits, so a 2 becomes a duck and a 7 a crutch. Some count in dozens and scores, and the rest point to something that already carries the number, from a psalm to a Broadway song.

The key point: A call never stands in for the number. The digits and the number itself always follow, so a player who knows none of the calls can still mark every ball.

Many calls grew up in the armed forces, where the game was played as housey-housey through both world wars, and a few, such as the call for 9, still rest on army slang. They came home with the players and spread through the commercial clubs that opened across Britain in the 1960s, a story told in the short history on the bingo hub.

Bingo Calls 1 to 30

Where a number has two well-known calls, the more common one comes first. A note that says only that a call rhymes means no other origin for it is known.

Pro Tip

Before your first session, learn the calls for the pairs that sound alike: 1 and 11, 13 and 30, 15 and 50. A busy hall confuses those most, and the rest can come with time.

Number	Call	Where it comes from
1	Kelly's Eye	Old army slang for a lone number one. Where the Kelly comes from is disputed.
2	One Little Duck, or Me and You	The 2 looks like a duck on water; the alternative rhymes.
3	Cup of Tea, or You and Me	Rhymes.
4	Knock at the Door	A line from the counting rhyme that begins “one, two, buckle my shoe.”
5	Man Alive	Rhymes, and was once a common cry of surprise.
6	Half a Dozen, or Tom Mix	Six is half of twelve. Tom Mix was a cowboy star of silent films whose surname rhymes.
7	Lucky Seven	Seven is widely held to be a lucky number.
8	Garden Gate	Rhymes.
9	Doctor's Orders	Army slang: number 9 was a laxative pill handed out by British army medics in the First World War.
10	[Prime Minister's name]'s Den	Named for 10 Downing Street, so the caller uses the name of whoever is Prime Minister at the time.
11	Legs Eleven	The two ones stand side by side like a pair of legs.
12	One Dozen	Twelve is a dozen.
13	Unlucky for Some	Thirteen is the traditional unlucky number.
14	Valentine's Day	Valentine's Day falls on February 14.
15	Young and Keen	Rhymes.
16	Sweet Sixteen, or Never Been Kissed	A sixteenth birthday. The two phrases make up the line of an old popular song.
17	Dancing Queen	After the ABBA hit about a dancer of seventeen.
18	Coming of Age	Eighteen is the age of adulthood in the UK.
19	Goodbye Teens	The last of the teenage years.
20	One Score	A score is twenty.
21	Key of the Door, or Royal Salute	Twenty-one was once the age of adulthood, when a young person was trusted with a front-door key. A royal salute is 21 guns.
22	Two Little Ducks	Two 2s side by side, like a pair of ducks.
23	The Lord Is My Shepherd, or Thee and Me	The opening words of Psalm 23; the alternative rhymes.
24	Two Dozen	Twice twelve.
25	Duck and Dive	Rhymes, with the 2 as the duck.
26	Half a Crown, or Pick and Mix	A half crown was two shillings and sixpence, written 2/6 in the old British money.
27	Gateway to Heaven, or Duck and a Crutch	Rhymes. The alternative reads the 2 as a duck and the 7 as a crutch.
28	In a State	Cockney rhyming slang, in which “two and eight” stands for a state.
29	Rise and Shine	Rhymes.
30	Dirty Gertie	Rhymes.

Bingo Calls 31 to 60

The middle of the range leans on arithmetic: dozens for 36, 48 and 60, and a midpoint at 45, which is half of the highest number in the game.

Number	Call	Where it comes from
31	Get Up and Run	Rhymes.
32	Buckle My Shoe	From the same counting rhyme as number 4.
33	All the Threes, or Dirty Knee	Both digits are threes; the alternative rhymes.
34	Ask for More	Rhymes.
35	Jump and Jive	Rhymes, after the dance.
36	Three Dozen	Three twelves.
37	More Than Eleven	Rhymes.
38	Christmas Cake	A loose rhyme.
39	Steps	After The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan's 1915 spy novel, later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.
40	Life Begins, or Naughty Forty	From the saying that life begins at forty, the title of a bestselling 1930s book.
41	Time for Fun	Rhymes.
42	Winnie the Pooh	Rhymes, after the bear of the children's books.
43	Down on Your Knees	Rhymes.
44	Droopy Drawers, or All the Fours	Rhymes with “all the fours,” the plain call.
45	Halfway There	Half of 90, the highest number in the game.
46	Up to Tricks	Rhymes.
47	Four and Seven	The two digits read in turn.
48	Four Dozen	Four twelves.
49	PC	After PC 49, the police constable hero of a British radio series of the 1940s and 1950s.
50	Half a Century, or Bullseye	Fifty runs is a half century in cricket, and the bull at the center of a dartboard scores 50.
51	Tweak of the Thumb	Rhymes.
52	Deck of Cards, or Weeks in a Year	A standard deck holds 52 cards, and a year has 52 weeks.
53	Stuck in the Tree	Rhymes.
54	Clean the Floor, or Man at the Door	Both rhyme.
55	Snakes Alive, or All the Fives	Rhymes, and the two 5s look like a pair of snakes.
56	Was She Worth It?	A marriage license once cost five shillings and sixpence, written 5/6.
57	Heinz Varieties	After the “57 varieties” slogan on a well-known food brand's labels.
58	Make Them Wait	Rhymes.
59	Brighton Line	Rhymes.
60	Five Dozen	Five twelves.

Bingo Calls 61 to 90

The last thirty include two of the best-known calls in the game, two fat ladies for 88 and top of the shop for 90.

Number	Call	Where it comes from
61	Baker's Bun	Rhymes.
62	Tickety-Boo, or Turn the Screw	Rhymes. Tickety-boo is old British slang for all being well.
63	Tickle Me	Rhymes.
64	Red Raw, or Almost Retired	Rhymes. The alternative is one year short of the pension age for men, long set at 65.
65	Old Age Pension	Sixty-five was for many years the state pension age for men in Britain.
66	Clickety Click	Rhymes.
67	Made in Heaven, or Stairway to Heaven	Both rhyme.
68	Pick a Mate, or Saving Grace	Both rhyme.
69	Either Way Up	The number reads the same upside down.
70	Three Score and Ten	Seventy years, the span of a life in the Bible.
71	Bang on the Drum	Rhymes.
72	Six Dozen	Six twelves.
73	Queen Bee, or Under the Tree	Both rhyme.
74	Candy Store, or Hit the Floor	Both rhyme.
75	Strive and Strive	Rhymes.
76	Trombones	From the marching song “Seventy-Six Trombones” in the musical The Music Man.
77	Sunset Strip, or Two Little Crutches	After the American TV series 77 Sunset Strip. The alternative reads each 7 as a crutch.
78	Heaven's Gate, or Thirty-Nine More Steps	Rhymes. The alternative is twice 39, whose call is Steps.
79	One More Time	Rhymes.
80	Eight and Blank	An 8 followed by a zero.
81	Stop and Run	Rhymes.
82	Straight on Through	Rhymes.
83	Time for Tea	Rhymes.
84	Give Me More, or Seven Dozen	Rhymes; the alternative is seven twelves.
85	Staying Alive	Rhymes.
86	Between the Sticks	Football slang for the goalkeeper's place between the posts.
87	Torquay in Devon	Rhymes, and the town is in Devon.
88	Two Fat Ladies	The two 8s look like two round figures sitting side by side.
89	Nearly There, or Almost There	One short of the last number.
90	Top of the Shop, or End of the Line	The highest number in the game.

Calls That Change and Calls That Faded

The list has never been fixed. The call for 10 takes its name from the British Prime Minister's address, 10 Downing Street, so it changes whenever the office changes hands and the caller puts the new Prime Minister's name in front of the word den.

Other calls have been retired along the way. Several of the oldest were bawdy barrack-room jokes that dropped out of use long ago, and the wolf whistle that once greeted legs eleven is no longer welcome in many halls. In 2003 a British holiday camp chain introduced a set of new calls drawn from pop culture, and a few of them now sit beside the older ones in lists, though the traditional calls kept their place.

Where bingo is played on a screen, the calls fade further. Online 90-ball rooms show each number as it is drawn, and video bingo, the format of nearly every game in our library, has no caller at all: the balls appear on screen and the game marks the cards. Those games can be tried in demo mode among our free bingo games.

Bingo Lingo: A Glossary

Auto-daub

The setting in an online game that marks every called number on your cards for you.

Blind

In some clubs, a word placed before a number ending in zero, so that 30 is read as blind thirty.

Call

The traditional nickname for a number, such as legs eleven for 11, said before the number itself.

Caller

The person, or the voice in an online room, who reads out each number as it is drawn.

Check

The pause after a claim while the winning card or ticket is compared with the numbers drawn so far.

Coverall or blackout

A 75-ball prize that needs every number on the card, the counterpart of a full house.

Dauber

A marker pen with a round sponge tip used to mark numbers on a paper card.

Extra ball

In video bingo, a ball bought after the draw has ended, usually offered when a card needs one or two more numbers.

Eyes down

What a caller says just before the first number of a game, the signal to stop talking and watch your cards.

Free ball

In video bingo, an extra ball offered at no cost, which some games award now and then.

Free space

The center cell of a 75-ball card, marked from the start and counted toward any shape through the middle.

Full house

Every number on a 90-ball ticket, or on an 80-ball or 30-ball card.

Hard way

A 75-ball line made without the free space, so it needs five called numbers rather than four.

House

A word shouted in a hall to claim the full house. Many players simply shout bingo, or line for the line prize.

Line

In 75-ball, any row, column or diagonal; in 90-ball, one of the three rows of the ticket.

Pattern

The shape a card must complete to win a game, announced in advance or printed in a video bingo table.

Strip

Six 90-ball tickets sold together that between them carry every number once.

Two lines

A 90-ball prize for any two of the three rows on one ticket, played after the one-line prize.

Wild ball

In video bingo, a ball that lets you mark a number of your choice, usually the one a card is missing.

Bingo Calls FAQ

Nobody knows for certain. The call is old army slang, and the story that ties it to the eye slot in the armored helmet of the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly is popular but unproven. Other accounts point to a music hall song about a man named Kelly.

Yes, a few of them. Two little ducks, 22, is often met with a quack from the room, and two fat ladies, 88, with a shout of wobble wobble. The responses vary from hall to hall, and nobody is expected to join in.

Not in the British sense. A 75-ball caller gives the column letter with the number, such as B 7 or O 64, and the letter does the work a nickname does in 90-ball: it tells the player exactly where to look.

No single body ever wrote the calls down. They passed from hall to hall and from caller to caller, so a region or a club can favor its own version, and newer calls often sit beside older ones for the same number.

On this page