A narrow notch, groove, or opening, such as a keyway in machinery or a slit for a coin in a vending machine. Also: a position in a group, series, sequence, or rank.
Sports An unmarked area in front of the goal between the face-off circles on an ice hockey rink. Also: the space between the face-off dots in a soccer game. The term is derived from the practice of electromechanical slot machines’ “tilt switches,” which would make or break a circuit when the machine was tilted, indicating a technical problem such as a door switch out of place or an empty paper roll. Tilt switches are no longer used in modern slot machines, but any sort of erroneous technical indication is still referred to as a ’tilt.’
To cut a slot, as in wood or metal. To put into a slot, or to set in a slot.
A slot is a position or position in a group, series, or sequence of events; the number of such slots is what defines the number of possible outcomes for an event. In a slot game, players insert cash or, in ticket-in, ticket-out machines, a paper ticket with a barcode into a designated slot on the machine to activate reels that spin and then stop to rearrange symbols. Winning combinations earn credits based on the paytable. Typically, the more paylines a slot offers, the higher the chances of winning. Some slots allow players to choose the number of paylines they want to bet on; these are known as ‘free’ slots, while others have a predetermined set of fixed paylines and are considered ‘fixed’ slots.