Talk:Bingo (UK)

Housey (Housey)?
I've never heard this before and I've played bingo in many areas of the UK! Can someone tell me where it originates from and how common it is?IndieSinger (talk) 16:47, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
 * My grandmother, born sometime around 1900, always called it Housey. I was told that's because people shout "House!" when they want to claim the game. --Northernhenge (talk) 18:38, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Born in and lived all my life in Australia, and I'd never heard of "Housie" until a clue on Jeopardy told me that that's what it's called here. Imagine my surprise.  It would be interesting to know if the Bingo/Housie division is age- or geographically-related. 124.150.80.45 (talk) 08:38, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Responses to a number called
Just wondered if reference in this article should be made about responses that players may perform to certain called numbers/slang e.g.- for number 11 ... they Wolf Whistle, for number 69 ... they call out Yum-Yum, and I think also for number 11 in certain places ... the striking of a drinks glass two or three times with their pen. Curran1980 00:35, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Doctor's Orders 99
Article says Doctor's Orders is 9. I thought it was 99, which is what doctors allegedly traditionally ask people to say to open their throats. --Northernhenge (talk) 18:38, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

No, it's definitely for number 9. IndieSinger (talk) 22:55, 20 September 2008 (UTC

Trivia section moved here
As Trivia sections are frowned on, and this one is in need of citations throughout, I've moved it here. --Northernhenge (talk) 12:18, 7 October 2008 (UTC)


 * An average British game of bingo takes between four and four and a half minutes.
 * The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute.
 * The average time to check a winning claim is 30 seconds.
 * There is a UK Caller of the Year Competition in which bingo callers compete for a cash prize and the chance to call the numbers in Las Vegas, as well as to become the bingo 'ambassador' for the UK.
 * There are 597 licensed and operating bingo clubs in Great Britain.
 * For the year 2000 the total estimated market was around 89 million admissions.
 * In 2004 more people attended bingo than football matches in both UK leagues.
 * All bingo halls in the UK participating in the National Bingo Game must adhere to the somewhat more strict rules on calling numbers because of the overwhelmingly large prize money (sometimes up to £500,000). This includes a double repetition of every single number, in the format, "Fifty five, both the fives, fifty five".
 * Castle Bingo in Canton, Cardiff, was the first purpose built Bingo Hall in the UK.
 * Riva Bingo in Sutton is the first fully electronic club in England. Customers can play traditional paper bingo or use an electronic terminal built into every table and into the smoking area

Some of the caller slang doesn't quite seem right
Does anyone ever call "Legs eleven, eleven"? In my experience, it's always just "Legs eleven", in which case the list should give simply "Legs" for consistency. Similarly, what about "Sweet" and "Blind"?

And why have the generic calls (All the fours, etc.) been given alongside a few of them, but not others?

The generic call for all the single figures is "On its own, number". Is the word "number" sometimes omitted only in the case of 1?

But then again, I've never played in a bingo hall, only in informal games for small prizes, so I don't know how much difference that would make.... -- Smjg 16:51, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I've added a few more calls based on this list. Should we add them all? Would that be too much? Should Caller Slang get its own page? -- FeldBum 17:55, 1 March 2006 (UTC)


 * This discussion has been moved from Talk:Bingo (US) since it's more appropriate here. I forget what the articles were like in those days, but a generic Bingo article must have been split into this and that, and the discussion ended up there. -- Smjg (talk) 18:57, 20 October 2008 (UTC)