Bingo Calls - Kelly's Eye to Top of the Shop

Catch up on more bingo lingo by checking out the bingo lingo for all the bingo balls. Not all bingo calls are used and there are local variations. Bingo calls are frequently used in 90 ball bingo games. Bingo calls it would seem are a purely quaint British thing. 'Legs Eleven' followed by wolf whistles and 'Two Little Ducks' followed by quack quack's conjure up images of Butlin holiday camps Hi-de-Hi style but there have been a number of attempts to revamp the numbers. In 2003 Butlins revamped their calling schedule to include J Lo's Bum (71), Gareth Gates (8) and Ali G (30) (The BBC) and various sites have run competitions to come up with new calls. In modern Britain the old school calls are now seens as outdated and a survey by Lottoland found that people thought some of the calls needed change (Wales Online).

Bingo Numbers & Their Respective Traditional Calls

1. Kelly's Eye
2. One Little Duck
3. Cup of Tea
4. Knock at the Door
5. Man Alive
6. Tom Mix
7. Lucky 7
8. Garden Gate
9. Doctors Orders
10. Boris' Den
11. Legs Eleven
12. One Dozen
13. Unlucky for Some
14. Valentines Day
15. Young and Keen
16. Sweet Sixteen
17. Dancing Queen
18. Coming of Age
19. Goodbye-Teens
20. One Score
21. Key of the Door
22. Two Little Ducks
23. Thee and Me
24. Two Dozen
25. Duck and Dive
26. Pick and Mix
27. Gateway to Heaven
28. Over Weight
29. Rise and Shine
30. Dirty Gertie
31. Get up and Run
32. Buckle my Shoe
33. Dirty Knee
34. Ask for More
35. Jump and Jive
36. Three Dozen
37. More than Eleven
38. Christmas Cake
39. Steps
40. Naughty Forty
41. Time for Fun
42. Winnie the Pooh
43. Down on your Knees
44. Droopy Drawers
45. Halfway There
46. Up to Tricks
47. Four and Seven
48. Four Dozen
49. PC
50. Half a Century
51. Tweak of the Thumb
52. Danny La Rue
53. Stuck in the Tree
54. Clean the Floor
55. Snakes Alive
56. Was she worth it
57. Heinz Varieties
58. Make them Wait
59. Brighton Line
60. Five Dozen
61. Bakers Bun
62. Turn on the Screw
63. Tickle Me 63
64. Red Raw
65. Old Age Pension
66. Clickety Click
67. Made in Heaven
68. Saving Grace
69. Either Way Up
70. Three Score & Ten
71. Bang on the Drum
72. Six Dozen
73. Queen B
74. Candy Store
75. Strive & Strive
76. Trombones
77. Sunset Strip
78. Heavens Gate
79. One More Time
80. Eight & Blank
81. Stop & Run
82. Straight On Through
83. Time for Tea
84. Seven Dozen
85. Staying Alive
86. Between the Sticks
87. Torquay in Devon
88. Two Fat Ladies
89. Nearly There
90. Top of the Shop

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What Is The Origin Of Bingo Number Calls?

The origin of many of the numbers such as Unlucky For Some (13), Half A Century (50), Heinz Varietes (57), Six Dozen (72) is often self-explanatory. Other numbers are based on shapes, which is why you have One Little Duck (2), Two Little Ducks (22), Legs Eleven (11) and Two Fat Ladies (88), or rhymes, Garden Gate (8), Gateway To Heaven (27). Other bingo calls have a more historic and intriguing background. For example Doctor's Orders (9) stems from the name of a laxative pill that was given out to soldiers during World War II, Brighton Line (59) represents the first two digits of the original Brighton telephone numbers whilst Trombones (76) originates from a song from the musical The Music Man. Tom Mix (6) was a star of the silver screen and 77 (Sunset Strip) harks back to an old TV show.

Offensive Bingo Calls

As mentioned above there are some who want bingo calls to reflect modern Britain. References to fat ladies (88), being overweight (28), sexist (legs eleven plus wolf whistling) and crudeness (69) are just some of the numbers that potentially could be changed. Number 30 (Dirty Gertie) is another number that could do with a change. Dirty Gertie is a reference to "an old World War Two song popularised by US soldiers in North Africa and stereotyping women of Arab descent". Not every bingo game or bingo caller will use these phrases. Login to Gala Bingo, for example, and their Emmerdale and Coronation Street bingo versions have adopted phrases that are relevant to each Soap Opera theme.

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