When talking about online casino games, the term slot is often used to refer to a specific type of bonus feature or other aspect of a particular game. The word is also commonly used when referring to a casino, where players deposit money or paper tickets with barcodes into slots that then activate reels and other features to earn credits based on the pay table.
In the early days of slot machines, the pay tables were displayed directly on the machine’s glass. Nowadays, as slots become more complicated and include multiple reels, different types of symbols, and a variety of bonus features, these information tables are often hidden away within help menus.
Essentially, the pay table displays how much you can win for landing matching symbols on a payline. It usually shows a picture of each symbol, alongside how much you can win if you land 3, 4 or 5 of those symbols on a payline in a row. The pay table is usually divided into coloured boxes for ease of reading and is displayed above or below the area that contains the reels in most cases.
The term ‘slot’ can also be used to describe a position on the field in American football, where receivers are placed close to the middle of the field to maximise their chances of catching passes from the quarterback. This is known as the slot and can be crucial to a team’s success, especially when it comes to running plays.