Bingo's back and it's B8 swappa crate

Tineke Van Der Walle, aka 'Mistress Viv', organises bingo nights. Photo / Janna Dixon

Legs 11, two fat ladies 88, and unlucky-for-some 13 - the calls that rang out in smoky bingo halls decades ago are back.

But it's not for the pensioner brigade.

Jane Parore, 32, is part of a new generation of bingo players - mainly young women - who are crowding inner-city Auckland bars.

And like the clientele, the jingles have also spiced up.

There's B8 swappa crate, G47 Patrick Swayze dancing in heaven and G49 Country cask wine.

There's a few cautionary calls too, such as O51 Gonorrhoea's not fun.

Parore, a mother of two, says she is hooked on the game. She won a hat at her first try. "I'd never played bingo before and had no idea how to play. I wasn't convinced when a friend asked me to go.

"It was way more fun than I thought it was going to be. It's great, especially with a big group of friends."

At Cassette Number Nine in Vulcan Lane, about 60 to 70 people play each fortnight.

University of Auckland student Jane Evans said it was a cheap and fun night of entertainment: "It sounded like ... something different to do."

Tineke Van Der Walle organises the bingo at Cassette Number Nine, under the name "Bingo Mistress Viv". "I wanted to make it a really young, cool, hip thing."