Find a bingo call
Tap a call to hear it read out, the way a caller says it.
Bingo calls are the rhymes and nicknames a caller uses for each number, like “legs eleven” for 11 or “two fat ladies” for 88. This page lists all 90 of the traditional UK calls. Search a number or a word, or tap a call to hear it read out the way a caller says it. It’s free to use and print.
Calls aren’t just for fun. In a noisy hall, “two little ducks, 22” is much harder to mishear than “22” said once.
Bingo calls that need explaining
Most calls are simple rhymes: 42 is Winnie the Pooh, 59 is the Brighton line. Others come from history or slang and make less sense today.
- 1, Kelly’s eye: usually traced to Ned Kelly, the Australian outlaw, and his armour with a single slit to see through.
- 9, Doctor’s orders: Number 9 was a laxative pill army doctors handed out in the First World War.
- 10, Cock and hen: a straight rhyme. Many callers swap in the name of whoever lives at Number 10.
- 22, Two little ducks: the two 2s look like ducks on a pond. Players often answer “quack quack”.
- 57, Heinz varieties: the “57 varieties” printed on the bottles.
- 65, Old age pension: 65 was the state pension age for men in Britain for most of the last century.
- 76, Trombones: from the song “Seventy-Six Trombones”.
- 87, Torquay in Devon: a straight rhyme on “seven”.
- 88, Two fat ladies: the shape of the 8s. The room often answers with a wolf whistle.
- 90, Top of the shop: the highest number in the game.
Other bingo lingo
- Eyes down: the game is starting, start marking.
- House or full house: every number on the ticket called. Shout it before the next call.
- One line, two lines: the smaller prizes in 90-ball, for completing one or two of the three rows.
- Dabber: the ink pen for marking paper tickets.
- Waiting or sweating: needing one more number.
Want the calls said for you during a game? The bingo caller reads every number with its call, and the bingo board shows them on a TV.