A slot is a narrow depression, notch, slit, or aperture, especially one for receiving or admitting something, such as a coin or letter. Also used figuratively to refer to a position within a sequence, such as a job or a time slot on a calendar:
A device that accepts paper tickets with barcodes, cash, or credit (also known as a payment terminal). Also called a fruit machine, video poker, and poker machine.
In a traditional mechanical slot machine, you pull a handle to spin a series of reels with pictures printed on them. If the symbols line up with a pay line in the middle of a viewing window, you win. The amount you win depends on the number of winning combinations and the odds of each combination. Modern slot machines use microprocessors to calculate the chances of winning and to display the results on their screens.
Some slot machines have bonus rounds that reward players with extra prizes. Bonus rounds vary in their rules and payouts. They may require a certain amount of symbols to trigger or they might be available at random. They can also increase your chances of winning a progressive jackpot, or free spins.
In a computer programming language, a slot is a dynamic placeholder that either waits for content to be added to it (passive slots) or calls out for it from a scenario (active slots). You can add your own custom slot types by clicking Add Slot Type in the left pane of the Slot Manager page. You can then specify a name for the new slot type and select a regular expression that represents a value that the slot is expected to match.