You may have been to bingo before, on your Butlins holiday or heard of it on films and TV shows. One thing is for sure though, it can be utterly mind-boggling if you don’t know much about it! Much like the London cockney rhyming slang, bingo lingo is rather tricky but ultimately, relies on quick wit and rhymes! You can play bingo games on Paddy Power to get in some shouting practice before hitting the bingo hall, or read the rest of this article and be on your way to being a pro lingo bingo-er!
Bingo calls are one of the most fun things about going to a bingo hall. Getting to shout at the top of your voice when you win but also having a good giggle at the things the bingo caller shouts out too. Some you might have heard of before, all relate to the possible numbers that might be called in a round of bingo.
The popular ones
Some of these bingo calls you'll need to know, partly because you’ll be expected to shout the number back at the bingo caller (if it’s that type of upbeat venue). You want to remain focused on your card and winning but having fun also!
- Two fat ladies – 88
- Knock at the door – number 4
- Unlucky for some – 13
- Legs 11 – 11
- Two little ducks – 22
- Four and Seven – 47
- Top of the shop – 90
You might be thinking – there’s a lot more to learn to account for all the numbers between 1 and 90, but these tend to be the numbers that everyone gets involved with shouting out, and we recommend you learn them!
The funny ones
A lot of these numbers you will giggle at, possibly distract you and fall off your chair laughing – it all depends on how many wines you’ve had at this point!
- Dancing Queen – 17. This one you’ll find funny, as most bingo halls, will play Abba’s Dancing Queen, and you can have a good giggle as you stand up and dance!
- Overweight – 28. A good laugh, especially because if one of you on the table has 28 on your sheet you’ll most likely end up saying ‘that’s me’ and then laugh as you just suggested you’re overweight!
- Dirtie Gertie – 30. This one makes us laugh for obvious reasons, but can you imagine how much you’ll laugh if your friend Gertie is there!!
- Droopy Draws – 44. Another obvious laugh!
The associated numbers
You’ll quickly notice that a lot of these are rhyming with the numbers which makes them slightly easier to remember. Some don’t rhyme though but are easy to remember thanks to their double meanings for example:
- One Dozen – 12
- Valentine’s Day – 14
- Sweet 16 – 16
- Coming of age – 18
- Goodbye teens – 19
- Two dozen – 24
- Three dozen – 36
- Naughty 40 – 40
- Halfway there – 45
- Four dozen – 48
- Half a century – 50
- Five dozen – 60
- Three score and 10 – 70
- Six dozen – 72
- Seven dozen – 84
- Top of the shop – 90
All of these numbers are easy to remember – especially the ones to do with ‘dozen’ although, you might need to brush up on your school mathematics abilities to remember your 12 times tables!
That’s just a small amount of the numbers that could be called out at any bingo hall, so get a group of friends down to the hall and have a good laugh listening to all the crazy bingo calls and remember to take part, you might even win a small fortune! If you hear two fat ladies being called, be sure to say 88!
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