A narrow aperture or cut, especially in a wall, door, or window. Also: A slit in a gun barrel. (Old English) An allowance for a man to enter a church before sunset.
A slot is the space for a pay table on a machine’s glass display, or within a video screen. It usually lists the payouts for matching symbols and may include information on bonus games and jackpots. The payouts for each spin vary depending on the number of coins played.
Slots are a universal casino favourite thanks to their easy game mechanics: you put in your money and watch what happens. If you line up three identical symbols in a row, you win. Then you start all over again.
There’s a lot more to slots than meets the eye. For example, there are many ways to win and lots of variations on the theme. You can even find progressive jackpots and other special features on a single machine!
The term ‘slot’ is also used to describe the size of a computer component, such as an ISA or PCI slot, or a memory slot. Usually these slots are labelled with the type of component, and a visual illustration is shown.
People often believe that a machine that has gone a long time without paying out is “due” to hit soon. But the reality is that slot machines are completely random. The only thing that makes them seem not-so-random is that the symbols appear more or less frequently on each of the reels.