A slot is a narrow opening, hole, groove, or channel. It can also refer to a position in a series, sequence, or hierarchy. The car seat belt slid easily into its slot. He dropped the coin into the slot and dialed.
A computer inside a modern slot machine uses the RNG to produce your three-number sequence. Then it consults an internal sequence table to find the corresponding reel location. This process is called mapping. After the computer finds the location, it causes the reels to stop at those positions. The symbols on the reels then determine whether you won or lost.
The payout amounts for different symbols are listed in a slot’s pay table. These tables are usually found on the machine’s face, above and below the slots where the reels are located. In some machines, the pay tables are also displayed in the help menu. The payouts are based on how many of the specific symbols match on a payline.
In modern video games, the pay table may also indicate the probability of hitting a particular symbol. Unlike classic slots, which only had one payline, modern online games have multiple. Each payline corresponds to a specific pattern that must be formed by the slot’s symbols.
Often, experienced gamblers will avoid machines that are located in high visibility locations (such as the casino’s main slot area) as they tend to have low payouts. This is because these machines are designed to attract customers to the casino and distract them from spending money on other types of games.