Bingo Calls: All 90 Bingo Number Names, and How Each One Sounds
From Kelly's eye to top of the shop, these are the traditional bingo calls: the nicknames British callers have used for a century so a full hall never mishears a number. Every number below has a play button: tap it and hear the call in a real recorded voice, the same callers that run our free online bingo caller. The teal numbers are the classics, each with a note on where the call comes from. The gold numbers are BingoHoster house calls, our own family friendly calls for the sixty-one numbers tradition never named, so every single number gets an announcement. Looking for the plain list? See bingo numbers 1 to 90, or the 1 to 75 list with letters for the American game, and draw them yourself with the bingo number generator.
- 1Kelly's eye, number oneNed Kelly, the Australian outlaw, wore a helmet with a single eye slit. The rhyme stuck in British halls a century ago.
- 2One little duck, number twoThe shape of the digit: a 2 looks like a duck sitting on the water.
- 3Cup of tea, number three
- 4Knock at the door, number fourA simple rhyme, one of the oldest calls in the book.
- 5Man alive, number five
- 6Chopsticks, number six
- 7Lucky sevenSeven has been the lucky number in most cultures for centuries, so the caller does not have to explain it.
- 8Garden gate, number eightThe curves of the 8 look like the latch and hoop of an old garden gate. Also a rhyme.
- 9Doctor's orders, number nineA play on the Number 9 pill, a laxative issued to soldiers in the First World War, so 'doctor's orders' was a knowing joke.
- 10Boris's den, number tenNumber Ten is the Prime Minister's door, so the call names whoever lives there. Halls update it with each new occupant.
- 11Legs elevenThe two ones side by side look like a pair of legs. Tradition says the room wolf-whistles when it is called.
- 12A dozen doughnuts, twelve
- 13Unlucky for some, thirteenThe old superstition, called with a grin.
- 14Valentine's Day, fourteen
- 15Young and keen, fifteen
- 16Sweet sixteenSweet sixteen, the birthday everyone remembers, and a rhyme.
- 17Dancing queen, seventeen
- 18Coming of age, eighteen
- 19Goodbye teens, nineteen
- 20Two perfect tens, twenty
- 21Key of the door, twenty-oneTwenty-one was the age you were traditionally given a key to the family front door, marking adulthood.
- 22Two little ducks, twenty-twoTwo 2s side by side look like two ducks on a pond. Players often reply 'quack quack'.
- 23Thee and me, twenty-three
- 24Two dozen doughnuts, twenty-four
- 25Duck and dive, twenty-five
- 26Half a crown, twenty-sixHalf a crown was two shillings and sixpence, written 2/6, in pre-decimal money.
- 27Duck on a crutch, twenty-seven
- 28In a right state, twenty-eight
- 29Rise and shine, twenty-nine
- 30Dirty Gertie, thirtyFrom the wartime song about Gertie from Bizerte, a rhyme the troops brought home.
- 31Get up and run, thirty-one
- 32Buckle my shoe, thirty-two
- 33Fish, chips and peas, all the threes, thirty-three
- 34Ask for more, thirty-four
- 35Jump and jive, thirty-five
- 36Three dozen sausages, thirty-six
- 37A very mixed-up lucky seven, thirty-seven
- 38Christmas cake, thirty-eight
- 39Steps, thirty-nineThe Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan's 1915 thriller and Hitchcock's film.
- 40Life begins, forty
- 41Time for fun, forty-one
- 42The answer to everything, forty-two
- 43Down on both knees, forty-three
- 44Droopy drawers, forty-fourA rhyme, with a picture: the shape of the two 4s sagging like a pair of drawers.
- 45Halfway there, forty-fiveExactly half of ninety, so the caller lets the room know the game is halfway.
- 46Up to tricks, forty-six
- 47Stairway to Devon, forty-seven
- 48Four dozen, forty-eight
- 49The copper's number, forty-nine
- 50It's a bullseye, fiftyThe bullseye on a dartboard scores fifty, so the two games lend each other a call.
- 51Tweak of the thumb, fifty-one
- 52Danny La Rue, fifty-twoDanny La Rue, the famous British drag artist, a rhyme from the 1960s halls.
- 53Stuck up a tree, fifty-three
- 54Clean the floor, fifty-four
- 55All the fives, fifty-fiveDouble the digit, sung out so it cannot be confused with 5 or 50.
- 56Magic tricks, fifty-six
- 57Heinz varieties, fifty-sevenHeinz sold its foods under the slogan '57 varieties' from 1896, and the number went straight into bingo.
- 58Running late, fifty-eight
- 59The Brighton line, fifty-nineThe Brighton Line was the old London to Brighton railway, and the express took 59 minutes.
- 60Grandma's favourite, sixty
- 61Baker's bun, sixty-one
- 62Tickety-boo, sixty-two
- 63Tickle me, sixty-three
- 64The Beatles' number, sixty-four
- 65Retirement age, sixty-fiveSixty-five was the state pension age for men for most of the twentieth century.
- 66Clickety click, sixty-sixThe sound of the two 6s, and an echo of the old Route 66 song.
- 67Made in heaven, sixty-seven
- 68Check your plate, sixty-eight
- 69Either way up, sixty-nine
- 70Three score and ten, seventy
- 71Bang on the drum, seventy-one
- 72A crutch and a duck, seventy-two
- 73Under the sea, seventy-three
- 74Hit the floor, seventy-four
- 75Granddad's motorway cruise, seventy-five
- 76Trombones, seventy-sixFrom the song 'Seventy-Six Trombones' in the musical The Music Man.
- 77Two little crutches, seventy-sevenThe two 7s look like a pair of walking sticks or crutches leaning together.
- 78Heaven's gate, seventy-eight
- 79One more time, seventy-nine
- 80There you go matey, eightyThe friendliest call in the book, and the one halls argue about most, because there is no agreed traditional call for 80.
- 81Stop and run, eighty-one
- 82Straight on through, eighty-two
- 83Time for tea, eighty-three
- 84Seconds please, eighty-four
- 85Staying alive, eighty-five
- 86Between the sticks, eighty-six
- 87Torquay in Devon, eighty-seven
- 88Wobbly wobbly, eighty-eightTwo round 8s wobbling side by side. BingoHoster keeps this one family friendly.
- 89Nearly there, eighty-nine
- 90Top of the shop, ninetyNinety is the highest ball in UK bingo, so it is the top of the shop.
Traditional call, with its originBingoHoster house call
Where the bingo calls come from
The calls started in mid-century British halls and fairgrounds as a practical fix: over chatter and clinking glasses, fifty-two and sixty-two sound dangerously alike, but Danny La Rue and Tickety-boo do not. Some are rhymes, some are pictures (two little ducks is the shape of 22), some are history: 59 is the Brighton line after the old London route, and 65 is retirement age, or was. Halls argue about the right call for 80 the way families argue about board game rules, which is half the fun.
The house calls
Tradition only ever named about a third of the board, and we think the other sixty-one numbers deserve better than "four and seven". So BingoHoster gives every number its own call: 42 is the answer to everything, 33 is fish, chips and peas, and 75 is granddad's motorway cruise. The caller says them aloud in every game, and if you would rather keep it classic, one tap on the Chatty calls setting returns the caller to plain, clear numbers.
Hear them called properly
A list is one thing; a caller with a real voice announcing lucky seven while the board lights up is another. BingoHoster calls all 90 numbers aloud with the classic calls, free and with no sign-up: run it on the big screen for a room, print cards from the bingo card generator, or play virtual bingo with tickets on every phone.
Eyes down for a full house?
Play Bingo freeEvery call above, read aloud by a free online bingo caller. No sign-up.