A narrow opening into which something can be fitted, such as a keyway in machinery or a slit for a coin in a slot machine. Also: a position or place, as on a timetable or schedule: He got the slot for chief copy editor at the newspaper.
The pay table in a slot will give you all the information you need to play the game, including details of each symbol and how much you can win if you land three, four or five matching symbols on a pay line. You’ll also find out how many paylines there are and any special features like Scatter or Bonus symbols, which can trigger mini bonus games with a different set of reels and payouts.
In the old days, the pay tables appeared directly on the slot machines, but as games became more complex and computerised, they were incorporated into the help screens instead. The pay tables will be easy to read and understand, with bright colours and graphics. They’ll often fit the theme of the slot and even feature animations, so you can learn the rules while having fun playing.
It’s a common belief that if a machine has gone long without winning, it is due to hit soon. In reality, however, each machine has a random number generator that runs through dozens of numbers per second. That means it would take a huge amount of lucky split-second timing to get the same combination every single time.