Bingo Calls: All 90 Numbers and Where They Come From

Every number from 1 to 90 has a call, and most of them are simply a rhyme: 3 is cup of tea, 8 is garden gate, 66 is clickety click. The rest come from the shape of the digits, from arithmetic, or from something a caller’s audience would have recognised — a radio serial, a bus route, a price that no longer exists.

You will find the full list below, banded in tens the way a caller board is read. Each call names where it came from, and where nobody can say for certain, it says that too. If the game itself is new to you, how to play bingo covers the rules first.

All ninety calls

Use the number bands to find yours. Every entry carries its own link, so you can send someone straight to the one you meant.

1 to 10

1 Kelly's eye: "Kelly's eye" is army slang for a solitary one, from the days when the game was housey-housey in the mess. A one-eyed Kelly is as far back as anyone has traced it, and the Ned Kelly helmet came along afterwards. "Buttered scone" is the rhyme, and "Little Jimmy" borrows the Navy's name for a first lieutenant. Also called Little Jimmy, Kelly's wonk, Buttered scone.
2 One little duck: 'One little duck' is the shape of the numeral, and the room quacks back at it. 'Me an' you' and 'Doctor Who' came in for the rhyme. Also called Me an' you, Doctor Who.
3 Cup of tea: Three phrases, one number: 'cup of tea', 'you an' me', 'up a tree'. The caller takes whichever suits the room, and tea wins most nights because it is the easiest British thing to say out loud. Also called You an' me, Up a tree.
4 Knock at the door: 'Knock at the door' rhymes with four — and the nursery rhyme puts the same words on the same number. Also called Door to door.
5 Man alive: 'Man alive!' rhymes with five, and it is one of the few calls that arrives with its own exclamation mark. 'Jack alive' and 'dead alive' work the same rhyme with different words. Also called Jack alive, Dead alive.
6 Half a dozen: Six is half a dozen and the call says so. "Tom Mix" and "chopsticks" carry the rhyme, Mix being the silent screen's biggest cowboy. Also called Tom Mix, Choppin' sticks, Chopsticks.
7 Lucky seven: 'Gawd's in 'eaven' rhymes with seven, and 'lucky seven' imports a superstition much older than the game — seven has counted as the fortunate number across a good many cultures. Also called Lucky, Gawd's in 'eaven.
8 Garden gate: "Garden gate" rhymes with eight, and so does 'Arry Tate — the music-hall comedian was famous enough that his name became a rhyme in its own right. "One fat lady" is the curve of the numeral. Also called One fat lady, 'Arry Tate.
9 Doctor's orders: 'Doctor's orders' is the No. 9 pill: the army's catch-all laxative, from one war or the other, handed out to any soldier the medical officer could not otherwise diagnose.
10 Downing Street: '[Prime Minister]'s den' is No. 10 Downing Street, the name changing with whoever currently lives there — Maggie's, Tony's and Dave's in their turn. 'Cock and hen' is straight rhyming slang for ten. Also called Andy's den, Cock and hen.

11 to 20

11 Legs eleven: 'Legs eleven' is the two upright strokes read as a pair of legs, and it turns up in print as early as 1917, in a soldier's account of a housey-housey game. The extra word keeps it from being misheard as seven, which is the other half of why it stuck.
12 One dozen: 'One dozen': twelve is the unit Britain still counts eggs and buns in, decimal money or not. The board runs it all the way up, 24 to 84.
13 Unlucky for some: 'Unlucky for some' is the ordinary British superstition about thirteen, lifted straight into the caller's book.
14 Valentine's Day: 'Valentine's Day' is the fourteenth of February — the date on every card in the country.
15 Young and keen: 'Young and keen' — keen rhymes with every teen on the board, and fifteen is the one that kept it.
16 Sweet sixteen: "Sweet sixteen" is the front half of a 1932 song title by Joseph George Gilbert. The record faded, the rest of the line about a first kiss stayed in the language, and the hall still shouts it. Also called Never been kissed.
17 Dancing queen: 'Dancing queen' is ABBA, 1976 — 'young and sweet, only seventeen'.
18 Coming of age: 'Coming of age' — eighteen is where the law hands everything over at once: the vote, a drink at the bar, a contract that binds.
19 Goodbye teens: "Goodbye teens" — nineteen is the last of them, and the caller waves them off.
20 One score: A score has meant twenty since Old Norse skor, the notch cut into a tally stick at every twentieth head counted. "Getting plenty" is the cheeky rhyme the halls put on top of it. Also called Score, Getting plenty.

21 to 30

21 Key of the door: Twenty-one was the age you came of age in England and Wales until 1970, and the key to the front door was the present for getting there. "Royal salute" is the twenty-one guns. Also called Royal salute.
22 Two little ducks: "Two little ducks" — the digits are a pair of ducks in profile, beaks to the left, and the hall quacks back. Also called Ducks on the pond.
23 Thee and me: "Thee and me" is a straight rhyme on three. "The Lord is my shepherd" is the opening line of Psalm 23. Also called The Lord is my shepherd.
24 Two dozen: Two dozen, and the caller says it that way because a room counts in dozens faster than it counts in twenties.
25 Duck and dive: "Duck and dive" rhymes on five, and it was British slang for dodging about — rhyming slang for skive — long before a caller borrowed it.
26 Half a crown: Half a crown was two shillings and sixpence, written 2/6 — it is the digits that match, not the value, since the coin was worth thirty old pence. "Pick and mix" rhymes with six, after the weigh-your-own sweet counter. Also called Pick and mix.
27 Gateway to heaven: "Gateway to heaven" rhymes with seven. "Duck and a crutch" reads the digits as objects: the 2 is the duck, the 7 the crutch, handle and shaft. Also called Duck and a crutch.
28 In a state: Two and eight is Cockney rhyming slang for state, as in "he was in a right two and eight". "Overweight" is the rhyme on eight. Also called Overweight.
29 Rise and shine: "Rise and shine" had been getting people out of bed for a century before any caller borrowed it.
30 Dirty Gertie: "Dirty Gertie" rhymes with thirty, Gertie for Gertrude. What fixed the name in everyone's ear was the song — "Dirty Gertie from Bizerte", written by an American private in 1942 and sung all round the Mediterranean the summer after.

31 to 40

31 Get up and run: "Get up and run" — an order barked at a room of people who are not going anywhere.
32 Buckle my shoe: Straight out of "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", in print in London by 1805. The shoe belongs to the two, which is what carries it up to thirty-two.
33 All the threes: All the threes, both digits said as they are. "Dirty knee" and "fish, chips and peas" rhyme on threes, the second a nod to the chippy supper. Also called Dirty knee, Fish chips and peas.
34 Ask for more: "Ask for more" rhymes with thirty-four, and it is the one thing every card in the room wants the caller to do.
35 Jump and jive: "Jump and jive" rhymes with thirty-five, in the language of the dance halls: jive was what Britain called the jitterbug after American servicemen brought it over around 1940.
36 Three dozen: Three dozen, and nothing else has ever stuck to it.
37 More than eleven: "More than eleven" rhymes on the seven, and it is the rare call that is also a correct statement about the number.
38 Christmas cake: "Christmas cake" is rhyming slang that has outlived whatever it first rhymed for. The cake is all anyone kept.
39 39 steps: "39 steps" is John Buchan's 1915 thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps, filmed again and again since — the title stuck to the number long before most players read the book. Also called All the steps, Steps.
40 Life begins: "Life begins" comes from Walter Pitkin's 1932 bestseller Life Begins at Forty, which put the phrase into everyday speech. "Naughty forty" is the rhyme, with a wink at middle age. Also called Naughty forty.

41 to 50

41 Time for fun: "Time for fun" follows straight on from life beginning at forty, and the two read as a pair down the column.
42 Winnie the Pooh: "Winnie-the-Pooh" rhymes with forty-two, and of all the words that would have done, the caller settled on A. A. Milne's bear.
43 Down on your knees: "Down on your knees" rhymes with three, and it comes down as something soldiers said in the war — a story with nothing behind it, told in every hall since.
44 Droopy drawers: "Droopy drawers" rhymes with fours, and the drawers are underwear heading south. "Diana Dors" rhymes the same way — the Swindon-born film star (1931–1984) was famous enough that her name could stand in for a number. Also called All the fours, Diana Dors.
45 Halfway there: "Halfway there" — the British game runs to ninety, so forty-five is the top of the hill.
46 Up to tricks: "Up to tricks" has the same three beats as "forty-six", which is half of why a call sticks.
47 Four and seven: "Four and seven" is how a caller reads any two-digit ball — the digits, then the number. On this one the reading stuck as the name.
48 Four dozen: Four dozen — the board's way of naming a number nobody built a joke around.
49 PC: "P.C. 49" was a BBC radio serial about Police Constable Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby, on air from 1947 to 1953. The hall shouts "evening, all" back at it, which belonged to Dixon of Dock Green — the wrong copper entirely.
50 Half a century: "Half a century" is the sum: fifty is half of a hundred. "Bullseye" comes off the dartboard, where the inner bull scores fifty. Also called It's a bullseye, Bullseye.

51 to 60

51 Tweak of the thumb: "Tweak of the thumb" and "I love my mum" both catch the vowel in one and miss the consonant. Half a rhyme is plenty at calling speed. Also called I love my mum.
52 Danny La Rue: "La Rue" rhymes with two, and Danny La Rue (1927–2009) was the biggest name British drag ever had, and among the best-paid performers in the country in the sixties. The rest are counts — 52 cards in a pack, 52 weeks in a year — and "chicken vindaloo" came in with Butlin's 2003 batch. Also called Chicken vindaloo, Deck of cards, Weeks in a year.
53 Stuck in the tree: "Stuck in the tree" rhymes with fifty-three. "Here comes Herbie" is the number painted on Disney's Volkswagen Beetle in The Love Bug (1968), and the hall beeps back. Also called Here comes Herbie.
54 Man at the door: "Man at the door", "clean the floor" — both rhyme with four, and both come straight out of somebody's front room. Also called Clean the floor.
55 All the fives: "Snakes alive" rhymes with five, and the two 5s rear up like a pair of snakes — sound and shape landing on the same call. Also called Snakes alive.
56 Was she worth it?: "Was she worth it?" is the old price of a marriage licence, five shillings and sixpence — and the hall shouts back "every penny!". "Shotts bus" is a Scottish call, after the number of the old Glasgow service. Also called Shotts bus.
57 Heinz varieties: Heinz's "57 Varieties", chosen in 1896 after H. J. Heinz saw a card on a New York train advertising 21 styles of shoe. He was making well over sixty things at the time and picked the number because he liked it.
58 Make them wait: "Make them wait" tells the caller what to do, and good ones do: a pause, then the number.
59 Brighton line: "The Brighton line" rhymes with fifty-nine, and it is the run down from Victoria to the sea.
60 Five dozen: Five dozen, or "Grandma's getting frisky" — which only half rhymes and gets away with it. Also called Grandma's getting frisky.

61 to 70

61 Baker's bun: "Baker's bun" rhymes with sixty-one, from the days when a baker's dozen meant thirteen and the bun on top came free.
62 Tickety-boo: "Tickety-boo" and "turn the screw" both rhyme with sixty-two. Tickety-boo is the British way of saying everything is running sweetly. Also called Turn the screw, Turn on the screw.
63 Tickle me: "Tickle me" is two words on the page and a whole joke in the caller's voice.
64 Almost retired: "Almost retired" is the joke of being one year short. "Red raw" takes the rhyme instead. Also called Red raw.
65 Retirement age: Sixty-five was when British men drew their state pension, from the 1920s right through to the 2010s, so the call means knocking off for good. Also called Old age pension.
66 Clickety click: "Clickety click" rhymes with sixty-six, one click for each 6. Players hear a train in it, though a train goes clickety-clack.
67 Stairway to heaven: "Stairway to heaven" and "made in heaven" both rhyme with sixty-seven. The first is also the title of Led Zeppelin's 1971 song, so it is the one the room already knows by heart. Also called Made in heaven.
68 Saving grace: "Saving grace" rhymes with eight and "pick a mate" rhymes with it too. Nobody has pinned down which came first. Also called Pick a mate.
69 Either way up: Sixty-nine reads the same upside down, which is the whole joke and the reason the call never names what it means. Also called Any way up, Meal for two, Favourite of mine.
70 Three score and ten: "Three score and ten" — a score is twenty, so three of them and ten more. The phrase comes from Psalm 90:10 in the King James Bible, where it is the span of a human life.

71 to 80

71 Bang on the drum: "Bang on the drum" rhymes with seventy-one. "J-Lo's bum" arrived in 2003, when Butlin's paid a professor of popular culture to write modern calls for its camps, and the halls never took to them. Also called J Lo's bum.
72 Six dozen: Six dozen. "Danny La Rue" rhymes here as well — the same name doing the same job it does at 52. Also called Danny La Rue.
73 Queen bee: "Queen bee" rhymes with seventy-three and does a second job on top: the queen bee is the one in charge. "Under the tree" and "lucky three" take the same rhyme with none of the swagger. Also called Under the tree, Lucky three.
74 Hit the floor: "Hit the floor" and "candy store" both rhyme with seventy-four, and each drags a picture in with it — the dance floor for one, the old sweet shop for the other. Also called Candy store.
75 Strive and strive: "Strive and strive" rhymes with seventy-five, and the doubled word is the point of it: a call that reads as an instruction to keep going until the full house.
76 Trombones: "Seventy-Six Trombones" is the big marching number from Meredith Willson's 1957 musical The Music Man, and it led the parade in every school hall that ever staged it.
77 Sunset strip: 77 Sunset Strip, the American detective series that ran from 1958 to 1964, and the hall stamps its feet at this one. "Two little crutches" is that 7 twice. Also called Two little crutches.
78 Heaven's gate: "Heaven's gate" rhymes with eight, and it pairs off with 27's gateway at the other end of the board. Also called 39 more steps.
79 One more time: "One more time" only half-rhymes with nine — the vowel matches and nothing else — and it doubles as the caller's joke about saying much the same thing all night.
80 Eight and blank: Eight and nothing, which the caller hears as "ate nothing" — hence Gandhi's breakfast, and the fasting does the rest. "Eight and blank" is the same two digits with the joke left out. Also called Gandhi's breakfast, Ate nothing.

81 to 90

81 Stop and run: "Stop and run" rhymes with eighty-one. In the picture version the 1 is her walking stick. Also called Fat lady with a walking stick.
82 Straight on through: "Straight on through" is the rhyme. The picture version sets the 2 beside the 8 and sees a fat lady with her duck. Also called Fat lady with a duck.
83 Time for tea: The second tea on the board after 3, and the only one that names a time — by eighty-three, the room is ready for it.
84 Seven dozen: Seven dozen, and the last of them: eight dozen is 96 and the board stops at 90. "Give me more" is the rhyme. Also called Give me more.
85 Staying alive: "Alive" rhymes with eighty-five. Plenty of callers hear the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" behind it, a link nobody has ever pinned down, and the rhyme does the job with or without them.
86 Between the sticks: "Between the sticks" rhymes with eighty-six and comes straight off the football pitch: the sticks are the goalposts, and the keeper is the one standing between them.
87 Torquay in Devon: "Devon" is what rhymes with eighty-seven. Torquay goes in front to finish the line and give the room a seaside to picture.
88 Two fat ladies: Pure shape — the two 8s look like a pair of large women seen from behind, and the hall answers with "wobble, wobble". The BBC cookery show Two Fat Ladies (1996–99) took its name from the bingo call rather than the other way round, and its sidecar carried the plate N88 TFL.
89 Nearly there: One off the end of the board — "nearly there" points at the single number above it. Also called Almost there.
90 Top of the shop: Ninety is as high as a British board goes, and every call for it says so a different way: "top of the shop", "end of the line", "as far as we go". Shop does a little rhyming on the side. Also called End of the line, As far as we go.

Why some numbers have three names

A hall in Glasgow and a hall in Kent never agreed, and neither did the operators who moved the game online. So you will hear two little ducks for 22 almost everywhere, while 26 is half a crown to one caller and pick and mix to another.

Where a number carries more than one call, you will find the alternatives on its entry. None of them is more correct than the others. If your local club says something different, your local club is not wrong.

Which of these you will still hear

Most of them. Callers keep the traditional rhymes because the room answers back: 22 gets “quack quack” and 88 gets “wobble wobble”. You will hear “every penny” shouted at 56 whether or not anyone there remembers that a marriage licence once cost five shillings and sixpence.

The references have aged at different speeds. Half a crown left circulation in 1970. The radio serial behind 49 ended in 1953. Two of the calls we started with turned out not to appear on any current list at all, which is why every entry here says which sources give it.

How we checked

We compared every call against four lists: Wikipedia’s list of British bingo nicknames, and the glossaries Mecca Bingo, William Hill and BingoMum publish. Each entry records which of the four give that exact call, so you can see how well attested yours is.

Two of the ninety we started with were wrong. 49 was “rise and shine again”, which duplicates 29 and appears nowhere — it is PC, after the radio serial. 57 was “all the beans” rather than Heinz varieties. Three more appear on no list in the form we had them, so those changed too.

Where the four disagree, the entry says so rather than picking a winner.

Taking the list to an event

You can print this page. The bands are set to break sensibly, so a caller can work down a sheet without hunting.

If you would rather not carry paper, the bingo caller draws the numbers and says the calls out loud, in a screen you can put on a television. It costs nothing and asks for no account.