Bob’s Full House was a bingo-based British TV game show hosted by Bob Monkhouse, which aired on BBC One from September 1984 to January 1990.

Rather than 90-number bingo, the show was based on a 60-number game, but still had 15 numbers for a full house on a three-by-six bingo card (90-number bingo used a three-by-nine card). Unlike 90-number cards, which have the numbers one to nine in the first column, BFH had one to ten in the first column.

Bob’s Full House

  • 1st Column – 1 to 10
  • 2nd Column – 11 to 20
  • 3rd Column – 21 to 30
  • 4th Column – 31 to 40
  • 5th Column – 41 to 50
  • 6th Column – 51 to 60

The game consisted of four players competing in three rounds for a choice of prizes, with the winner advancing to play for a Holiday in the final “Bob’s Gold Card” round.

Round One

In the first round, the players competed to be the first to light up the four corners of their cards. It was a buzzer round, with the person with the fastest finger getting to answer the question first. A correct answer meant you could light one of your four corners. Get the question wrong and you were “wallied”, and you were unable to answer the next question. The first player to light all four corners of their card got to select a “prize” for winning the round.

Round Two

In the second round, Bob will ask each player in turn to select a category of questions by entering a number from their middle line corresponding to the subject. If it was wrong, it was thrown open to the other players. The first player to buzz gets the question. If they get the answer right, they get to light their number. However, getting it wrong means they are “wallied” for the next question. The round continued in turn with Bod swapping the categories around (“mixing the six”) every four questions, until one player had the entire middle row lit. That player then got to select a prize.

Round Three

Finally, the group played for a full house with a quick-fire question round open to all players. Again, wrong answers meant you were “wallied” for the next question. The first player to do so wins the entire game and advances to the bonus round. As usual, players can be “wallied” if they get it wrong. Winning this round also meant the player got to choose a “prize”.

Bob’s Golden Card

The final round was “Bob’s Golden Card” with the chance to win a “holiday”. A card with its contents concealed is displayed. The player had to answer as many questions as possible in 60 seconds. When they got a question right, they got to select a number. Behind each number was either a cash value or a letter. The goal was to uncover enough letters so you could reveal or deduce the holiday destination. Failing to work out the holiday destination, you got the total cash prize as a consolation.

Bingo Lingo

Bob littered the game with Bingo Lingo and one-liner jokes aplenty; some of the episodes I watched have not fared well, as many of the jokes would be deemed inappropriate today.

In addition to the TV show, there was a Bob’s Full House board game and even a computer game. Although the computer game did not use lingo, the Bingo cards of the board game included it underneath each number.

Interestingly, the TV lingo differs from that in the board game. I’ve listed them side-by-side below. You will notice some lingo missing from the TV show on the left. If you know any more, please comment below.

You can see the 1984 Christmas Special on YouTube

Number TV Show Boardgame
Lingo Response Lingo Response
1 Kelly’s eye Kelly’s Eye
2 One little duck Quack One Little Duck / Cat Ballou
3 The Pawn Brokers sign Sit On My Knee
4 Number 4, Knock on the door On its own, number 4
5 Man Alive Man Alive, its number 5
6 Tom Mix Tom Mix
7 On its Own, Number 7 / Lucky 7 Three steps to Heaven
8 The Garden Gate Garden Gate
9 Doctors Orders Cough, cough! Doctors orders
10 Maggie’s Den Maggie’s Den
11 Legs eleven Wolf Whistle Legs eleven Wolf Whistle
12 One Doz One doz
13 Unlucky 13, Unluck for some Unlucky for some
14 One and four
15 One and five
16 Sweet sixteen
17 One and Seven My age
18 One and Eight One and eight
19 One and nine
20 Two zero, blind tweenty
21 Key to the Door
22 All the Twos / Two Little Ducks Quack, Quack Two Little Ducks
23 Two and Three it’s 23
24 Two and Four, its 24
25 Two and Five Silver Wedding, its 25
26 Two and Six, Was She Worth It?
27 Two and Seven, Twenty Seven / My Age Two and Seven
28 Two and Eight
29 Two and nine Two and nine
30 You hate it girls, three zero, blind thirty
31 Three and One, its 31
32 Three and Two, its 32
33 All the threes Wogan’s knees! All the Threes – Feathers – Number 33
34 Three and Four
35 Three and Five Three and Five
36 Three and Six
37 Three and Seven
38 Three and eight Three and Eight
39 Steps – its 39
40 Blind 40 Life Begins at 40
41 Four and One
42 Four and Two
43 Four and Three
44 All the Fours Droopy Draws All the Fours – Droopy Draws
45 Four and Five
46 Four and Six
47 Four and seven Four and Seven
48 Four and Eight
49 PC 49 Evenin all! Four and Nine
50 Five Zero, Blind Fifty
51 Five and one Five and One
52 Weeks of the Year Five and Two
53 Five and Three
54 Five and Four Five and Four
55 All the fives, Fifty Five All the Fives
56 Five and Six, fifty six Five and Six
57 Five and Seven / All the varieties / Heinz varieties Heinz Varieties
58 Five and Eight
59 Five and Nine, the Brighton Line Choo choo! Five and Nine, The Brighton Line
60 Top of the Shop / Blind 60 Six Zero, Blind 60 – Top of the Shop – Number 60