Bingo calls

Know your legs 11 from your clickety click

Bingo calls are words or phrases that accompany the ball numbers. The most famous ones usually rhyme, and some have even made it into mainstream language.

In bingo halls, terms were sometimes shouted out by the players after the bingo caller announced the number in a call-and-response fashion. You can still find bingo calls in offline bingo, though you won’t hear them much in online bingo (unless OJO gets their way).

ULTIMATE BINGO CALLS LIST

Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for, the complete list of most common bingo calls. Ta for waiting patiently! Check the list below and hit the button underneath to get started in our bingo rooms.

They’re the traditional terms used from Calgary to Calcutta, but what about funny rude bingo calls? Don’t worry, OJO’s got ya covered…

FUNNY BINGO CALLS

As younger generations (by which we mean fresh faced 30 year olds) catch onto the beauty of bingo, they bring their own funny bingo calls to the table. Here’s a few of the ones we’ve heard at bingo parties in recent years…

9 – GET AN UBER FROM MINE

10 – BORIS’S DEN

39 – LOVE ISLAND TIME

48 – NOT ANOTHER BREXIT DEBATE

49 – AMAZON PRIME

68 – LATE FOR MY TINDER DATE

78 – HATRERS GONNA HATE

83 – GLUTEN FREE

RUDE BINGO CALLS

We’d be lying if we said rude bingo calls wasn’t our favourite category  These naughty alternatives are just some of the cheeky or downright dirty bingo calls you might hear in late night bingo sessions at Butlins.

If you want to spice up your local bingo night, drop a few of these very rude bingo calls into the mix! Just don’t blame us if you get NUMBER 4 – SHOWN THE DOOR!

10 – STICK YOUR TONGUE UP A HEN

24 – DID YOU SCORE?

37 – ONE NIGHT IN HEAVEN

44 – ON ALL FOURS

66 – KINKY TRICKS

60 – GRANNY’S GETTING FRISKY

69 – YOUR PLACE OR MINE?

71 – J-LO’S BUM

81 – FAT LADY WITH A WALKING STICK

88 – TWO FAT LADIES

Where did bingo calls come from?

Although the game of bingo originated in the 1500s, the distinctive bingo terms – mostly rhyming nicknames announced alongside the number – only appeared in the UK during the 1950s, the golden age of bingo halls.

In the UK they were a mixture of rhymes, military slang and cultural references from the time – songs, artists, actors, public figures and places.

Although there’s an accepted set of terms which covers all 90 balls, you can find bingo call variations from country to country and even hall to hall. Our list includes the most popular UK bingo calls you’d encounter in most bingo halls today, despite many of them coming from across the pond.

BINGO CALLS CATEGORIES

Bingo terms are a real melting pot of cultural references, simple rhymes and other categories. Some of the best known bingo calls are based on the shape of the numbers such as Legs 11, Two Little Ducks (22), Droopy Drawers (44) and Two Little Crutches (77).

OJO’s favourite, Ghandi’s Breakfast (80), is both a play on his fasting (“ate nothing”) and because the numbers look like Ghandi from above, sat cross legged next to an empty plate. There’s something we didn’t know!

THE EVOLUTION OF BINGO CALLS

Some famous bingo number calls (Two Fat Ladies 88, Clickety Click 66) have been around so long they’re almost better known than bingo itself. But with fast-changing social attitudes, no call is guaranteed to live forever.

Some have since been retired as they became seen as controversial, inappropriate or rude bingo calls. “Number 16 Never Been Kissed” became “Sweet Sixteen”, while terms that relate to weight such as “Number 28 Overweight” are being gradually phased out. Others that relate to famous people from decades past have also been replaced, though some, like “Number 6 Tom Mix”, star of 1930s US cinema, have stuck around.

Plenty of organisations have tried to update the classic bingo calls list with references to the current era of popular culture. They include UK holiday camp Butlins who in 2003 waved goodbye to Tom Mix and brought in Z-List celebs like “Number 8 Gareth Gates”.

Students are one group who can be relied on to adopt and make bingo their own, and we might see funny bingo calls like '48 Not another Brexit debate' catching on, though more crude calls, such as “88, Moobs” might not fare so well.

Online bingo is in many ways better than its offline predecessor, but most online bingo games don’t use classic UK bingo terms, which means you gotta call them yourself (and get weird looks from the other people on your bus).

Let’s get a viral campaign goin’ and maybe OJO will bring them back! Which calls would you replace, and who do you want to voice them?

THE BURNING QUESTIONS OF BINGO NUMBER CALLS

So you’ve met the bingo number calls, but do you know why these numbers got their names? Detective OJO’s on the case!

Why is 49 PC in bingo?

This refers to the old UK TV series The Adventures of Pc 49. When the bingo callers says “49 PC”, the audience usually shouts “EVENING ALL!”.

Why is 77 called Sunset Strip?

Nope, it’s not a route 66 type of thing. 77 Sunset Strip was the name of a hit US cop drama that was on TV in the early 1960’s. That it’s still used today across the world tells you how important US culture was to bingo in the halcyon days of bingo halls.

Why is 59 the Brighton Line?

The Brighton Line was a train route from London to Brighton and the numbers 5 & 9 were the first 2 digits of the old Brighton phone numbers.

How do you call a bingo number?

Easy peazy. Part of the skill of calling bingo is knowing the name for each number, but the rest is down to your performance! Think variety show, rowdy pub quiz and Alan Carr, and now say out loud, “NUMBER 3, CUP OF TEA!!”. If you can get your audience shouting along with you, even better!

So that’s the most popular bingo calls, but what about the stuff we say in the chat rooms? If you don’t know your YOLO from your XOXO or your 1TG, then it’s time to enter the 21st century, roomie…