Bingo Calls 1 to 90

In British bingo, every number from 1 to 90 has its own call — a nickname or rhyme the caller uses as it comes out, like “legs eleven”, “two fat ladies, 88” or “top of the shop, 90”. Together they are known as bingo lingo. Some go back more than a century, and they have a practical job too: in a noisy hall a rhyme is much harder to mishear than a bare number.

How Bingo Calling Works

As each ball is drawn, the caller announces it. Numbers without a special call are read out digit by digit and then as a whole — “two and three, twenty-three”, or for a double, “both the fives, fifty-five”. The numbers with a traditional call get their nickname. In some clubs the caller says the rhyme and the room chants the number back; in others it is the other way round, and a few calls have their own response from the players, like a “quack, quack” for 22.

The calls are a British tradition, so they belong to 90-ball bingo, and there is one for every number on the board. Some older games went up to 100.

The Best-Known Bingo Calls

• 1 – Kelly’s eye: military slang, possibly after the slit in the helmet of the outlaw Ned Kelly, which looks like a 1.
• 11 – Legs eleven: First World War slang for a tall, thin man — in Britain, a tall officer with very thin legs.
• 22 – Ducks on the pond: two 2s look like two ducks side by side, so the room answers “quack, quack”.
• 26 – Half a crown: the old coin was worth two shillings and sixpence, written 2/6.
• 45 – Halfway there: 45 is halfway to 90.
• 57 – Heinz varieties: from the “57 Varieties” slogan of the Heinz food company.
• 59 – Brighton line: a nod to the London to Brighton railway line, once used for day trips to the coast.
• 66 – Clickety click: it simply rhymes with sixty-six.
• 76 – Trombones: after “Seventy-Six Trombones”, the marching song from the musical The Music Man.
• 87 – Torquay in Devon: another rhyme, on eighty-seven.
• 88 – Two fat ladies: each 8 looks like a figure, and players may answer “wobble, wobble”.
• 90 – Top of the shop: the highest number in the game.

All 90 Bingo Calls

The full list, 1 to 90. Calls vary from club to club, so one well-known call is shown for each number, with other calls you may hear alongside it.

Newer Bingo Calls

The list keeps changing. In 2003 the Butlins holiday camps brought in a set of modern calls, written by a professor of popular culture to freshen up the game — “Dirty Gertie” for 30 and “chicken vindaloo” for 52 among them. Some caught on and now sit alongside the traditional calls in the table above.

Play Bingo Online

Online 90-ball bingo uses the same numbers from 1 to 90. For the rules of 90-ball and 75-ball, the prizes and the odds of each one, see our guide to bingo rules and how to play; for the shapes you play for in 75-ball, bingo patterns. The casinos listed on this page offer bingo alongside their other games.

Playing It Sensibly

Bingo is sociable and cheap per ticket, which makes it easy to keep buying another game. Set a budget before you start and stop when it is gone. Free, confidential support is available at BeGambleAware.org. 18+ only.

Bingo calls: frequently asked questions