Bingo Terminology: A Glossary Of Bingo Terms And Phrases
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Bingo has been a long-standing game in the UK since the 18th century. Players have developed a unique bingo language, which we’ll review in this article.
- Bingo Slang: Why Is it Important to Know it
- A Glossary of Bingo Terms
- What Are Some Bingo Sayings?
- Other Useful Tips and Terms in Bingo
- Bingo – Community-based Game Offering Great Insight
- Online Bingo Sites – The Future of Bingo?
Bingo Slang: Why Is it Important to Know it
You are in for a treat if you’ve never participated in an in-person bingo session. The terminology alone will both confuse and amuse you.
The callers use a range of bingo slang terms, phrases, and sayings that, to the unfamiliar ear, will sound nothing short of humorous and intriguing.
There are dozens of bingo terms callers use when calling different numbers. Callers use bingo slang numbers for each of the 90 numbers in the 90-ball UK version of the game.
Learning the bingo slang numbers and language is a must to ensure everything is clear.
A Glossary of Bingo Terms
- Admission Pack – the bingo cards a player must buy to be admitted into a bingo hall
- Bingo Lobby – the lobby leading to the bingo hall
- Buy-in – the minimal amount of money you must pay to participate in a bingo session
- Bingo Board – each number a player claims is shown on an electronic board
- Cover-all (Blackout) – term in bingo language where you must cover every card number called to win
- Full House/FH – similar to the coverall, FH in bingo slang is a pattern requiring you to cover all numbers on your card to win
- Lucky Jar, Cookie Jar – the winner gets a jar full of cash
- Moonlight Bingo – a bingo term used to refer to a late-night bingo session
- Pattern – a specific line of numbers you need to mark off on your card to win
- Quickie – quickie and blowout are bingo terms referring to a fast-paced cover-all bingo game
- Wild Numbers – you will randomly receive additional free numbers based on your first assigned number. If the first number is 43, you mark off all numbers on your card ending with a 3. Those numbers, in bingo slang, are called wild numbers
What Are Some Bingo Sayings?
Callers follow each of the 90 numbers in British bingo with a relevant saying or phrase, such as Cup of Tea after the number 3 as the two rhyme or Knock at the Door after 4.
These sayings are inspired by the nursery rhyme ‘One, Two, Buckle my shoe’.
Common phrases familiar to any bingo fan
- 67 – Made in Heaven (rhyme)
- 80 – Gandih’s breakfast, i.e. ‘ate nothing, as the number is made from an 8 (pronounced ate) and 0, or nothing
- 42 – Winnie the Pooh (rhymes with Winnie the Pooh, a popular UK animated character)
- 30 – Dirty Gertie – (rhyme). Gertie is a nickname for Gertrude, a UK nickname for the N. London statue La Delivrance. It also connects to a WW II song: Dirty Gertie from Bizerte
- 27 – Duck and crutch – the numbers 2 and 7 resemble a duck and a crutch, respectively
- 39 – Steps, inspired by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock thriller 39 steps
What Is 77 in bingo?
In bingo terms, the number 77 is followed by the phrase ‘two little crutches’ or ‘Sunset Strip.’
The former refers to the resemblance of the number 7 to a crutch, while the latter refers to the US TV series 77 Sunset Strip.
What Is 69 in bingo?
“Either way up’/’Anyway up” are two common phrases callers utter after the number 69, as the number is the same when inverted.
Other Useful Tips and Terms in Bingo
- Early Birds – warm-up bingo games played ahead of a scheduled bingo session or the starting game of the session
- Four corners – if you get all the numbers from all four corners, you get this winning pattern
- Blower – a device that uses air to mix the bingo balls
- Multiple winners – if multiple players hit the bingo, they will share the prize proportionally
- To be ‘On’ – if a player needs only one number to announce “bingo”, then it is told they are ‘on’
- Block of 6 – or 6-pack is a bingo term for a pattern of six marked squares that form a block-like shape
- Wrap-up – the final game of the session
Bingo – Community-based Game Offering Great Insight
While some may prefer bingo betting to gambling, bingo is a much more community-oriented game with insightful and engaging gameplay that brings people together and rewards them.
However, with the increasingly new bingo sites available now to players, online options are becoming more and more attractive.
Online Bingo Sites – The Future of Bingo?
In recent years, given that everything is moving online, many bingo sites also appeared to satisfy the players’ needs from wherever they are.
The accessibility of these casino games is not the only thing that has made bingo or Slingo sites gain many gamers in recent years.
The rewards and promotions offered also played an equally important part.
Given that the bingo sites operate similarly to casino-based ones, here you can find many bonuses you may know from other games of chance, such as bingo no wagering bonuses, free bingo no deposit bonuses or other types of bingo bonuses made to suit each player’s taste.
All of these extra rewards paired with the ease of payment – because most of the sites have even a PayPal Bingo or Pay by Phone Bingo banking alternatives – make them a very attractive alternative for those who don’t have the time to visit the traditional bingo halls.
But at the end of the day, bingo is, at its essence, a game of countless witty puns, sayings, slang terms, and references to history and popular culture.
This, and the community-oriented nature of its gameplay, makes it unique among games of chance.