Tambola numbers with names (1–90)
The full caller list — "two fat ladies, 88".
Half the fun of tambola is the caller's patter. Nobody wants to hear a flat "eighty-eight" when they could hear "two fat ladies" — but the full list is surprisingly hard to find written down in one place.
Here it is, all ninety. Indian tambola halls use the British bingo canon almost verbatim, so these are the ones your family already half-remembers.
- 1
- Kelly’s eye
- 2
- One little duck
- 3
- Cup of tea
- 4
- Knock at the door
- 5
- Man alive
- 6
- Half a dozen
- 7
- Lucky seven
- 8
- Garden gate
- 9
- Doctor’s orders
- 10
- Big Ben
- 11
- Legs eleven
- 12
- One dozen
- 13
- Unlucky for some
- 14
- Valentine’s day
- 15
- Young and keen
- 16
- Sweet sixteen
- 17
- Dancing queen
- 18
- Coming of age
- 19
- Goodbye teens
- 20
- One score
- 21
- Key of the door
- 22
- Two little ducks
- 23
- Thee and me
- 24
- Two dozen
- 25
- Duck and dive
- 26
- Half a crown
- 27
- Gateway to heaven
- 28
- Overweight
- 29
- Rise and shine
- 30
- Dirty Gertie
- 31
- Get up and run
- 32
- Buckle my shoe
- 33
- All the threes
- 34
- Ask for more
- 35
- Jump and jive
- 36
- Three dozen
- 37
- More than eleven
- 38
- Christmas cake
- 39
- Steps
- 40
- Life begins
- 41
- Time for fun
- 42
- Winnie the Pooh
- 43
- Down on your knees
- 44
- Droopy drawers
- 45
- Halfway there
- 46
- Up to tricks
- 47
- Four and seven
- 48
- Four dozen
- 49
- Rise and shine
- 50
- Half a century
- 51
- Tweak of the thumb
- 52
- Danny La Rue
- 53
- Stuck in the tree
- 54
- Clean the floor
- 55
- Snakes alive
- 56
- Shotts bus
- 57
- Heinz varieties
- 58
- Make them wait
- 59
- Brighton line
- 60
- Five dozen
- 61
- Baker’s bun
- 62
- Tickety-boo
- 63
- Tickle me
- 64
- Almost retired
- 65
- Retirement age
- 66
- Clickety click
- 67
- Stairway to heaven
- 68
- Saving grace
- 69
- Anyway up
- 70
- Three score and ten
- 71
- Bang on the drum
- 72
- Six dozen
- 73
- Queen bee
- 74
- Hit the floor
- 75
- Strive and strive
- 76
- Trombones
- 77
- Two little crutches
- 78
- Heaven’s gate
- 79
- One more time
- 80
- Eight and blank
- 81
- Stop and run
- 82
- Straight on through
- 83
- Time for tea
- 84
- Seven dozen
- 85
- Staying alive
- 86
- Between the sticks
- 87
- Torquay in Devon
- 88
- Two fat ladies
- 89
- Nearly there
- 90
- Top of the shop
Play Tambola instead
Want the app to read them out for you? Play Tambola online — it calls every number with its name.