As one of the nation’s most long standing favourite games, bingo is known to pretty much everyone – even people who rarely or never play know what it is.
Bring up the game of bingo in a conversation and nine times out of ten someone will chirp out one of the traditional bingo calls; two little ducks, clickety click, top of the shop, etc.
Go to a professional bingo hall, however, and you won’t hear these calls at all anymore.
That often comes as a surprise to people who aren’t bingo players, because the old comedy calls are so ingrained in society that everyone just assumes this is still the way bingo is called.
It hasn’t been for some time, and there is a good reason for that, although places where bingo is played occasionally, or just for fun, or with a crazy theme as part of a bigger night may well still use comedy bingo calls.
That said, they might not be the same ones you are thinking of – in the age of political correctness and all of us being told how awful we are all the time, even bingo has not come through unscathed.
Bingo Calls Changed to be more Politically Correct – Gone Woke?
A news story that did the rounds in 2020 claimed that bingo calls were being changed to appease the woke brigade, who decided that some bingo calls – two fat ladies being an obvious one – were offensive.
Others seemed out of date, and to be fair, given that most of them were established during or shortly after WW2, they probably were.
For example, who in 2020 would have known that Dirty Gertie Number 30 was a reference to a famous song in the 1940s? Or that PC 49 refers to an old radio series that was also turned into a film in 1949?
Exactly where these changes were happening wasn’t made 100% clear though; Foxy bingo was mentioned but that’s just an online operator, and they only implied they were thinking about having some fun with the calls to appeal to their new younger customer base.
Since this story came long after the old bingo calls had been retired from use at the biggest clubs it was probably just the media making a mountain out of a molehill, but nevertheless, there were some… interesting changes being suggested:
| Old Call | Number | Woke Call |
|---|---|---|
| Four dozen | 48 | Brexit debate |
| Candy store | 74 | Recycle more |
| Duck and dive | 25 | Quarter life crisis |
| PC | 49 | Amazon Prime |
| Heaven’s gate | 48 | Haters gonna hate |
| Between the sticks | 86 | Instagram pics |
| Jump and jive | 35 | It’s a vibe |
| Christmas cake | 38 | Avocado on a plate |
| Clean the floor | 54 | Lads on tour |
| Pick a mate | 68 | Tinder date |
| Time for tea | 83 | Gluten free |
Of course, the old bingo calls were not set in stone, bingo callers were free to mess about with them as they pleased and in some cases certain numbers were routinely called differently from one region to another.
Perhaps local landmarks were used, or local celebrities etc.
It’s not the first time bingo calls have been changed to bring them into line with pop culture either; “Number 8 Gareth Gates” was used for a time back in the early 2000s, for example.
Although the story that reported these more woke changes caused plenty of eye rolling and outcry at the time, this is not actually the real reason why traditional bingo numbers are no longer called.
Why Don’t They Use Funny Bingo Calls Anymore?
The real reason that the traditional humorous bingo calls were ditched in professional clubs, is actually much less dramatic.
As fun as it was to have the audience interaction with some calls, and even though it created a sense of togetherness, a language that everyone understood and expected, as well as a way for callers to make a session their own by perhaps adapting one or two of the calls – they were scrapped for simplicity.
You see, it was found that people would miss numbers more often because of the extra lingo added around the numbers, not to mention that new players might find it confusing and be put off from coming back.
To keep bingo fair, therefore, it was uniformly decided by the Bingo Association that professional clubs would call numbers using the same phrasing up and down the country.
For that reason, what you will hear is “Two and six, twenty six. Two and six, twenty six.”, for example, or “On its’ own, number 4. On its’ own, number 4.” (number dependent obviously).
It’s spoken simply and clearly, and always repeated once. This means that players have very little chance of mis-hearing a number, or getting confused by funny calls, or misunderstanding what has been said.
It creates a level playing field for everyone.
It undoubtedly takes a little bit of fun out of the game, but missing a number and losing out on a potential win would be even less fun we are sure you would agree.