When you think of bingo, many will automatically think of all the weird and wonderful phrases associated with them. Two fat ladies, clickety click, legs eleven. We’ve all heard of these, but what do they mean? Bingo Calls

Bingo calling is largely associated with offline bingo, and while you won’t find them in online games and mobile bingo, they are still well worth knowing.

Below you’ll find all you need to know about bingo calls, so you can pick up the jargon and become a bingo expert in no time at all.

What are Bingo Calls?

If you’re completely new to bingo, then you may be unsure what bingo calls even are. They’re relatively simple to understand, but the sheer volume of bingo calls can be a little overwhelming.

All they are though are nicknames for the balls being drawn however. They all have stories behind them, from visual similarities, such as “two fat ladies” being the call for 88, to numbers such as “doctors orders” which represents 9, with the number 9 being a pill used for soldiers during World War II.

Most numbers have a special call and over the years they’ve developed a little more and modernised to suit the bingo player of today.

What you will find is that when a bingo caller calls out the numbers, they will use both the bingo call phrase and read the actual number, so you don’t necessarily need to know each and every phrase to still play along.

Bingo Calls You Should Know

If you’d like to get to know the bingo calls common in the UK, we’ve highlighted below the phrases you should know from 1-90.

• 1: Kelly’s Eye
• 2: One Little Duck
• 3: Cup of Tea
• 4: Knock at the Door
• 5: Man Alive
• 6: Half a Dozen
• 7: Lucky Seven
• 8: Garden Gate
• 9: Doctor’s Order
• 10: (Prime Minister)’s Den
• 11: Legs Eleven
• 12: One Dozen
• 13: Unlucky for Some
• 14: Valentine’s Day
• 15: Young and Keen
• 16: Sweet Sixteen or Never Been Kissed
• 17: Dancing Queen
• 18: Coming of Age
• 19: Goodbye Teens
• 20: One Score
• 21: Royal Salute or Key of the Door
• 22: Two Little Ducks
• 23: Thee and Me
• 24: Two Dozen
• 25: Duck and Dive
• 26: Pick and Mix
• 27: Gateway to Heaven
• 28: In a State or Overweight
• 29: Rise and Shine
• 30: Dirty Gertie
• 31: Get up and Run
• 32: Buckle my Shoe
• 33: Dirty Knee or All the Threes or Fish, Chips and Peas
• 34: Ask for More
• 35: Jump and Jive
• 36: Three Dozen
• 37: More than Eleven
• 38: Christmas Cake
• 39: 39 Steps
• 40: Life Begins
• 41: Time for Fun
• 42: Winnie-the-Pooh
• 43: Down on your Knees
• 44: Droopy Drawers
• 45: Halfway There
• 46: Up to Tricks
• 47: Four and Seven
• 48: Four Dozen
• 49: PC
• 50: Half a Century
• 51: Tweak of the Thumb
• 52: Danny La Rue
• 53: Here Comes Herbie or Stuck in a Tree
• 54: Clean the Floor
• 55: Snakes Alive
• 56: Shotts Bus
• 57: Heinz Varieties
• 58: Make them Wait
• 59: Brighton Line
• 60: Five Dozen
• 61: Baker’s Bun
• 62: Turn the Screw or Tickety-Boo
• 63: Tickle Me Sixty Three
• 64: Red Raw
• 65: Old Age Pension
• 66: Clickety Click
• 67: Stairway to Heaven
• 68: Saving Grace
• 69: Favourite of Mine
• 70: Three Score and Ten
• 71: Bang on the Drum
• 72: Six Dozen
• 73: Queen Bee
• 74: Hit the Floor
• 75: Strive and Strive
• 76: Trombones
• 77: Sunset Strip
• 78: 39 More Steps
• 79: One More Time
• 80: Eight and Blank
• 81: Stop and Run
• 82: Straight on Through
• 83: Time for Tea
• 84: Seven Dozen
• 85: Staying Alive
• 86: Between the Sticks
• 87: Torquay in Devon
• 88: Two Fat Ladies
• 89: Nearly There
• 90: Top of the Shop