Bingo Numbers Nicknames: Guide to Bingo Calling

Many of the numbers in the bingo game are given nicknames. The bingo numbers nicknames have two purposes:

The first purpose is to verify and emphasize the call. Bingo halls are often crowded and loud, when the caller adds a nickname to the called out number, it helps the players make sure that they have heard the correct number.

The second purpose of the bingo numbers nickname is to add some humor to the repetitive procedure of calling out the numbers.

There are two general types of nicknames:

• nicknames that rhyme with the numbers. For example, twenty: getting plenty


• nicknames that come for a certain reason such as an association, the shape of the digits, and more. For example, forty two: the famous street in Manhattan; twenty two: two little ducks

Some of the bingo numbers have several nicknames while others have no nicknames at all. Generally, you will not hear bingo numbers nicknames in professional bingo halls. Nowadays, you would hardly hear them at all; most bingo halls are currently using computerized draws instead of air blown balls inside bingo cages. However, here are some of the most worth mentioning bingo numbers nicknames.

• One: Kellys Eye; after the infamous one eyed Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. Also: At the Beginning, Bingo Baby


• Two: One Little Duck; since the shape of the number resemble a swan neck. also: Me and You, Doctor Blue, Little Boy Blue; simply because it rhymes.


• Three: One Little Flea; since it rhymes and looks like a little flea. Other rhyming nicknames: I Am Free, Monkey on the Tree.


• Four: The One Next Door, On the Floor, Knock at the Door


• Five: One Little Snake; you can already imagine why. Plus: Man Alive or Jacks Alive.


• Six: Chopsticks, Toms Tricks, Tom Mix


• Seven: One Little Crutch; because it looks like one little crutch, Lucky; because seven is the luckiest number in many cultures, David Beckham


• Eight: One Fat Lady; because it look like two halves of a fat lady or: Garden Gate, Sexy Kate and Shes Always Late; because it rhymes


• Nine: Doctors Order. There are two common versions to this bingo number nickname. According to one of them, the British doctors in World War II used to write on sick notes a 9 pm curfew. The other version claims that a medication called number nine pill was prescribed for almost any condition during World War I.


• Ten: Downing Street; after the UK prime minister address. In addition: Uncle Ben and Cock and Hen; because it rhymes


• Eleven: Legs Eleven or Kellys Legs


• Twelve: Dozen, Monkey Cousin; because it rhymes with dozen


• Thirteen: Unlucky for Some; guess why


• Seventeen: Dancing Queen; because you are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen…


• Twenty: Getting Plenty.


• Twenty Two: Two Little Ducks; see the explanation on two


• Twenty Three: Lords my Shepherd; taken from Psalm 23


• Twenty Six: Bed and Breakfast; because 2 shillings and 6 pence was the traditional cost of nights lodgings


• Thirty: Flirty Thirty, Your Face is Dirty, Dirty Gertie


• Thirty Three: Two Little Fleas, All the Trees All the Feathers


• Thirty Nine: The Famous Steps, All the Steps; after Hitchcock movie


• Forty: Two Score, Life Begins At


• Forty Four: All the Fours, Open Two Doors, Droopy Drawers; because it resembles pair of legs of two droopy women


• Fifty: Half a Century, Five Oh Five Oh Its Off to Work We Go


• Fifty Five: Snakes Alive; because it rhymes and it suppose to resemble couple of snakes


• Fifty Nine: The Brighton Line; after the number of London Brighton service and it rhymes


• Sixty: Three Score, Five Dozen; simple mathematics


• Sixty Five: Old Age Pension, Stop Work; after the UK formal retirement age


• Sixty Six: Clickery Click; Say no more


• Seventy: Three Score and Ten


• Seventy Six: Was She Worth It? the traditional price of marriage license was 7 shillings and 6 pence


• Seventy Seven: Sunset Strip; after a popular 1950s TV show


• Eighty: Gandhis Breakfast; try to picture Gandhi sitting with his legs crossed and a big plate in front of him. Does it make any sense now?


• Eighty Three: Fat Lady with a Flea


• Eighty Eight: Two Fat Ladies, Wobbly Wobbly; need I say more?


• Eighty Nine: Nearly There, All but One; yes, just one more number needs a nickname


• Ninety: End of the Line, Top of the Shop, As Far as We Go

Tracy kaplowitse is currently working on a book about bingo and at http://www.muly.info/ . As a small chilled she learned at http://www.muly.info/how-slot-machines-work.html from her grandfather.