Bingo callers in the UK use a nickname for every number from 1 to 90, from "Kelly's eye" for 1 to "top of the shop" for 90. Most calls are rhymes, some describe the shape of the digits and others come from songs, films and British history. Online and mobile bingo rooms often keep the tradition alive, with callers or chat hosts using the same lingo. Here are all 90 calls with their meaning.
A bingo call is the spoken nickname a caller uses when a number from 1 to 90 is drawn. UK halls built the set so a number could be heard across a noisy room, and so a player who missed one digit still had a second chance to catch it. The same ninety calls still turn up in many mobile bingo rooms, even when the software marks the ticket for you.
Most calls fall into three groups. A rhyme call matches the sound of the number, as "knock at the door" does for 4. A shape call describes how the digits look, as "two fat ladies" does for 88. A story call points at a song, a film, a birthday or a place, as "dancing queen" does for 17 because the ABBA lyric names seventeen.
Bingo is one format inside a wider mobile casino lobby, and each format keeps its own shorthand. A reader who wants that wider map can start with the types of mobile casino games, then use the tables on this page for the ninety calls themselves.
Calls from 1 to 10 are the ones new players hear first, because single digits come up early and often in a 90-ball game. Each call in this band is short enough to say in one breath. Kelly's eye, one little duck and lucky seven are the three that chat rooms repeat most, because the pictures are easy to remember.
Bingo calls 1 to 10
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kelly's eye | Often linked to the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, though the origin is disputed. |
| 2 | One little duck | The 2 looks like a duck. |
| 3 | Cup of tea | Rhymes with three. |
| 4 | Knock at the door | Rhymes with four. |
| 5 | Man alive | Rhymes with five. |
| 6 | Tom Mix | Rhymes with six. Tom Mix was a cowboy star of early Hollywood films. |
| 7 | Lucky seven | Seven is widely seen as a lucky number. |
| 8 | Garden gate | Rhymes with eight. |
| 9 | Doctor's orders | Named after the Number 9 pill, a laxative army doctors handed out in the First World War. |
| 10 | [Prime Minister's name]'s den | Refers to 10 Downing Street. The caller uses the current Prime Minister's name. |
The teens mix shapes, birthdays and one song. Legs eleven is a shape call: the two 1s are read as a pair of legs, and halls often answer it with a whistle. Sweet sixteen and coming of age mark birthdays. Dancing queen borrows the age in the ABBA lyric rather than rhyming with seventeen.
Bingo calls 11 to 20
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Legs eleven | The two 1s look like a pair of legs. Players often answer with a wolf whistle. |
| 12 | One dozen | Twelve is a dozen. |
| 13 | Unlucky for some | Thirteen is seen as an unlucky number. |
| 14 | Valentine's Day | Valentine's Day falls on 14 February. |
| 15 | Young and keen | Rhymes with fifteen. |
| 16 | Sweet sixteen | Sixteen is a milestone birthday in many cultures. |
| 17 | Dancing queen | From the ABBA song, which mentions being seventeen. |
| 18 | Coming of age | Eighteen is the age of adulthood in many countries. |
| 19 | Goodbye teens | Nineteen is the last teenage year. |
| 20 | One score | A score is an old word for twenty. |
Calls from 21 to 30 lean on rhyme, with two exceptions that carry a picture or a song. Key of the door treats 21 as the old age for receiving a house key. Two little ducks reads the two 2s as a pair of ducks, and rooms often answer with "quack quack". Dirty Gertie at 30 comes from a wartime song, so it is a story call, not a rhyme.
Bingo calls 21 to 30
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Key of the door | Twenty-one was traditionally the age you got the key to the family home. |
| 22 | Two little ducks | The two 2s look like a pair of ducks. Players often answer "quack quack". |
| 23 | Thee and me | Rhymes with twenty-three. |
| 24 | Two dozen | Twice twelve. |
| 25 | Duck and dive | Rhymes with twenty-five. |
| 26 | Pick and mix | Rhymes with twenty-six. |
| 27 | Gateway to heaven | Rhymes with twenty-seven. |
| 28 | In a state | Rhymes with twenty-eight. |
| 29 | Rise and shine | Rhymes with twenty-nine. |
| 30 | Dirty Gertie | Named after a song popular with soldiers in the Second World War. |
Bingo calls 31 to 40
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Get up and run | Rhymes with thirty-one. |
| 32 | Buckle my shoe | Rhymes with thirty-two, from the nursery rhyme "one, two, buckle my shoe". |
| 33 | All the threes | Two 3s side by side. |
| 34 | Ask for more | Rhymes with thirty-four. |
| 35 | Jump and jive | Rhymes with thirty-five, named after the dance. |
| 36 | Three dozen | Three times twelve. |
| 37 | More than eleven | Rhymes with thirty-seven. |
| 38 | Christmas cake | Rhymes with thirty-eight. |
| 39 | Steps | From the 1935 Hitchcock film The 39 Steps. |
| 40 | Naughty forty | A playful call for turning forty. |
Halfway there at 45 is a position call, not a rhyme: 45 is half of 90, the top of a UK ticket. Droopy drawers at 44 is a shape call, reading the two 4s as sagging trousers. The rest of this band rhymes, including Winnie the Pooh for 42.
Bingo calls 41 to 50
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | Time for fun | Rhymes with forty-one. |
| 42 | Winnie the Pooh | Rhymes with forty-two. |
| 43 | Down on your knees | Rhymes with forty-three. |
| 44 | Droopy drawers | The shape of the two 4s, said to look like sagging trousers. |
| 45 | Halfway there | Forty-five is half of ninety, the highest number in bingo. |
| 46 | Up to tricks | Rhymes with forty-six. |
| 47 | Four and seven | A plain call of the two digits. |
| 48 | Four dozen | Four times twelve. |
| 49 | PC | From the BBC radio series The Adventures of PC 49, about a police constable. |
| 50 | Half a century | Fifty years. |
Bingo calls 51 to 60
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Tweak of the thumb | Rhymes with fifty-one. |
| 52 | Danny La Rue | Rhymes with fifty-two. Danny La Rue was a famous drag performer. |
| 53 | Stuck in the tree | Rhymes with fifty-three. |
| 54 | Clean the floor | Rhymes with fifty-four. |
| 55 | Snakes alive | The two 5s look like snakes, and the call rhymes with five. |
| 56 | Was she worth it? | Said to refer to the old cost of a marriage licence: five shillings and sixpence. |
| 57 | Heinz varieties | From the "57 varieties" slogan in Heinz advertising. |
| 58 | Make them wait | Rhymes with fifty-eight. |
| 59 | Brighton line | Commonly linked to the London to Brighton railway line. |
| 60 | Five dozen | Five times twelve. |
The sixties mix rhyme with a few pictures of ordinary life. Old age pension names 65 as the traditional UK retirement age, so the call gives a reason instead of a rhyme. Clickety click for 66 rhymes with sixty-six, in the same family as all the threes for 33. A repeated digit is often called by its picture or its rhyme, and the table under this heading is the call the room uses.
Bingo calls 61 to 70
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 61 | Baker's bun | Rhymes with sixty-one. |
| 62 | Turn the screw | Rhymes with sixty-two. |
| 63 | Tickle me | Rhymes with sixty-three. |
| 64 | Red raw | Rhymes with sixty-four. |
| 65 | Old age pension | Sixty-five was the traditional UK retirement age. |
| 66 | Clickety click | Rhymes with sixty-six. |
| 67 | Stairway to heaven | Rhymes with sixty-seven. |
| 68 | Saving grace | Rhymes with sixty-eight. |
| 69 | Either way up | The number looks the same upside down. |
| 70 | Three score and ten | The biblical span of a human life: seventy years. |
Bingo calls 71 to 80
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | Bang on the drum | Rhymes with seventy-one. |
| 72 | Six dozen | Six times twelve. |
| 73 | Queen bee | Rhymes with seventy-three. |
| 74 | Candy store | Rhymes with seventy-four. |
| 75 | Strive and strive | Rhymes with seventy-five. |
| 76 | Trombones | From the song "76 Trombones" in the musical The Music Man. |
| 77 | Sunset Strip | From the US TV series 77 Sunset Strip. |
| 78 | Heaven's gate | Rhymes with seventy-eight. |
| 79 | One more time | Rhymes with seventy-nine. |
| 80 | Eight and blank | The 8 followed by a blank 0. |
The last band includes the two calls players ask about most. Two fat ladies is 88, because the two 8s are read as round figures standing side by side. Top of the shop is 90, the highest number on a UK 90-ball ticket, so the call names the end of the range rather than a rhyme. Stop and run at 81 and straight on through at 82 stay with rhyme.
Bingo calls 81 to 90
| Number | Call | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 81 | Stop and run | Rhymes with eighty-one. |
| 82 | Straight on through | Rhymes with eighty-two. |
| 83 | Time for tea | Rhymes with eighty-three. |
| 84 | Seven dozen | Seven times twelve. |
| 85 | Staying alive | Rhymes with eighty-five, from the Bee Gees song. |
| 86 | Between the sticks | Rhymes with eighty-six. A goalkeeper plays between the sticks. |
| 87 | Torquay in Devon | Rhymes with eighty-seven. Torquay is a seaside town in England. |
| 88 | Two fat ladies | The two 8s look like two ladies with round figures. |
| 89 | Nearly there | One short of the top number. |
| 90 | Top of the shop | Ninety is the highest number in UK bingo. |
How bingo calls are made up
- Rhymes: most calls simply rhyme with the number, such as "knock at the door" for 4 or "rise and shine" for 29.
- Shapes: some describe how the digits look, such as "legs eleven" for 11 or "two fat ladies" for 88.
- Culture and history: others come from songs, films and British life, such as "Heinz varieties" for 57 or "Steps" for 39.
- Counts: the multiples of twelve are called as dozens, from "one dozen" for 12 to "seven dozen" for 84.
These calls belong to 90-ball bingo, the main format in the UK. Many calls have local variants, and some callers make up their own. On a phone, the numbers are usually marked on your tickets automatically, so the calls are there for fun and atmosphere rather than for keeping track.
A caller usually says the number and then the nickname, so "eight, garden gate" gives you the digit even if you miss the rhyme. Online rooms that auto-dab still play the call, because the soundtrack is part of the game rather than the way the ticket is marked. Chat hosts use the same nicknames in typed messages, often without the number attached.
Learning the set does not change the draw. Each number from 1 to 90 is still one ball in the blower, and a nickname is only a label for that ball. Players who are new to mobile casino games can pair this list with the best mobile casino games for beginners, which covers how a first session is set up.
Spoken nicknames show up in other hall games too. Craps keeps its own call sheet for dice totals, and the online craps beginner's guide explains those terms the same way this page explains bingo calls.
Why the same number can have two names
Bingo calls are not set by one rulebook. Each hall, caller and chat host keeps a list of nicknames they use most often. One room may say "Kelly's eye" for 1 while another simply says "one". The meaning stays the same, so a player who knows the number can follow the game even when the wording changes.
Callers also choose how much to say. A live caller may give the number, the call and a short remark, while automated callers in many mobile rooms read out the number and the call and little else. New players should listen for the number first and the call second. The number is what marks the ticket, and the call is a memory aid that helps the room keep pace.
A call also gives the room a shared reference point. When a player says or types the call for a number, the others in the room can check their cards against the same word. This is why the calls matter in a social game even when the marking is automated. The number drawn decides which squares are marked.
How to learn the calls in order
Learning the calls works best in small groups. Start with the first ten, because single digits come up early in a game and repeat often. Once those feel natural, move to the teens and then the twenties. A player who can name the call for each number before it is announced spends less time checking the card.
Rhymes are the easiest group to memorise. Calls such as "cup of tea" for 3 and "knock at the door" for 4 follow a simple pattern, so the rhyme cues the number. Shape calls are harder because they depend on how a digit looks in print. Calls from songs and films rely on shared memory, so they are the group newer players are most likely to forget.
Calls that need a story
Some calls depend on a story rather than a sound. "Dirty Gertie" for 30 comes from a wartime song, and "Steps" for 39 points to the 1935 Hitchcock film The 39 Steps. Taking part in a game does not require knowing where a call came from. The source does explain why the call exists, and it helps when a room uses a variant that is not on the standard list.
Position calls mark where a number sits in the range. "Halfway there" for 45 is the clearest case, because 45 is half of 90. "Top of the shop" for 90 names the highest number on the ticket. These calls are easy to remember once the pattern is clear, and they give a room a quick way to confirm the top and middle of the board.
Where the calls show up on a phone
On a phone, the call usually arrives as audio and text at the same time. Players who prefer quiet can rely on the text, and some mobile rooms also show recently drawn numbers on screen. The recent list is the quickest way to check a missed call without asking the room to repeat it. Players on small screens may find a larger text size makes the call easier to read next to the number.
Calls travel between rooms by ear. A caller who hears a good rhyme may repeat it, and a player who enjoys it may take it to another hall. This is why two rooms in the same city can use different wording for the same number, and why an online room may add a call that is on no printed list.
Mistakes that catch new players
Calls with the same ending sound can blur together. "Tom Mix" for 6 and "pick and mix" for 26 both end in the word mix, so the ending is not a reliable guide. The number printed with the call is the safe check. A player who relies only on the sound may mark the wrong square, which is why many rooms show the number on screen as well as the call.
Another common mistake is treating a shape call as a rhyme. "Droopy drawers" for 44 reads the two 4s as sagging trousers, so the picture is the clue rather than the sound. Picturing the shape is the clue, so it is worth practising the shape calls by picture as well as by sound.
Practising at home
Practise without a game by picking a random number from 1 to 90 and saying its call aloud. Repeat the exercise with a single decade, such as 61 to 70, until each call comes without thought. Then mix the decades together. This method builds recall in the order a live caller uses, and it helps a player who is new to the room keep up.
Keep a short list of the calls you find hardest. Write the number next to the call and a one-line reason. A reason can be a rhyme, a shape or a story. Review the list before a session, because repetition turns a call from a puzzle into a habit.
Where to go next
The calls are a shared language, and players can use them as much or as little as they like. Most mobile rooms display the number clearly enough to play without memorising anything. Learning the list still adds to the atmosphere of a game and gives a new player something to talk about with others in the room. Players who want to test their skills in a harder format can read the guide to advanced mobile casino play, which covers table games for experienced players.
