There’s a lot of showmanship involved in running your own virtual bingo game—it can be a lot more rigorous than you might expect! But that’s not to say it isn’t fun, and when it comes to bingo, one of the best things you can do to add variety to the game is to use the best and most memorable calls for numbers.
Over the years, naturally, calls have sprung up for every number that might come up—so Trustedbingo has compiled some of the best, must-have calls for your online bingo game.
Number 4, knock at the door
Let’s start off simple—this one is just a simple rhyming call. Naturally, rhyming is the basis of most of these calls, since it’s all about drawing everyone’s attention to the number. These calls become recognizable and memorable pretty quickly, so many of the players can hear the call and know what they’re going to be marking off.
There’s not much more to this one, but it’s great for any number ending in 4, really. If you’re ever stuck for anything cleverer, a rhyme never hurt.
Number 2, One little duck
But the calls aren’t all about rhyming. There are lots of ways the rhymes come to be. Often, it’s just a case of what the actual number looks like—or what some people think the number looks like. If you look at the number 2, it does almost look like a duck or even a swan gliding across the water.
Visual clues like this are really great and pop up really often. Here, for those who aren’t familiar with the rhymes already, it will be a great laugh to hear some of the weirder ones—like this one!
Number 9, doctor’s orders
This one is a bit stranger and harder to understand—especially at face value. After all, it doesn’t rhyme, and there’s nothing about the number 9 traditionally associated with the number 9. For the origins of this saying, we have to look back into history.
Apparently, in military history, army doctors would shut up their clinics at 9 pm. It has also been suggested that the number 9 was military slang for laxative—though neither conclusion is entirely clear.
Either way, it’s a really interesting and different one that’s sure to get your players interested and ask questions.
Number 13, unlucky for some
As great as it is to have those esoteric, obscure calls to get people asking questions, you also need some that everyone will instantly understand. Number 13 is considered unlucky by countless cultures across the world, and certainly here in the U.K.
Why exactly this is the case is not entirely clear, but the fact is that superstition around the number 13 is very, very common. When you make this call, everyone will know the number before you’ve said it.
Number 8, one fat lady
One of the most iconic and classic bingo calls—your game would be lacking without it! This is, again, one of the most recognizable bingo calls out there, and everyone will instantly know what you mean as well as have a laugh at the call.
Of course, this one also translates really well to 88—two fat ladies!
Again, a classic and must-have call for your online bingo game. Your best bet is to get a few new and unusual ones in there-but keep the crowd happy with the classics.