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. The teal balls are the classics; the gold balls are BingoHoster house calls, our own funny bingo calls for the sixty-one numbers tradition never named, so every single number gets an announcement. Want them read aloud with a real voice? Our free online bingo caller knows all ninety.
1Kelly's eye, number one
2One little duck, number two
3Cup of tea, number three
4Knock at the door, number four
5Man alive, number five
6Chopsticks, number six
7Lucky seven
8Garden gate, number eight
9Doctor's orders, number nine
10Boris's den, number ten
11Legs eleven
12A dozen doughnuts, twelve
13Unlucky for some, thirteen
14Valentine's Day, fourteen
15Young and keen, fifteen
16Sweet sixteen
17Dancing queen, seventeen
18Coming of age, eighteen
19Goodbye teens, nineteen
20Two perfect tens, twenty
21Key of the door, twenty-one
22Two little ducks, twenty-two
23Thee and me, twenty-three
24Two dozen doughnuts, twenty-four
25Duck and dive, twenty-five
26Half a crown, twenty-six
27Duck on a crutch, twenty-seven
28In a right state, twenty-eight
29Rise and shine, twenty-nine
30Dirty Gertie, thirty
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-nine
40Life begins, forty
41Time for fun, forty-one
42The answer to everything, forty-two
43Down on both knees, forty-three
44Droopy drawers, forty-four
45Halfway there, forty-five
46Up to tricks, forty-six
47Stairway to Devon, forty-seven
48Four dozen, forty-eight
49The copper's number, forty-nine
50It's a bullseye, fifty
51Tweak of the thumb, fifty-one
52Danny La Rue, fifty-two
53Stuck up a tree, fifty-three
54Clean the floor, fifty-four
55All the fives, fifty-five
56Magic tricks, fifty-six
57Heinz varieties, fifty-seven
58Running late, fifty-eight
59The Brighton line, fifty-nine
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-five
66Clickety click, sixty-six
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-six
77Two little crutches, seventy-seven
78Heaven's gate, seventy-eight
79One more time, seventy-nine
80There you go matey, eighty
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-eight
89Nearly there, eighty-nine
90Top of the shop, ninety
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.
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.
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.