A slot (also known as a hole, groove or slit) is a position or time reserved for something. It is often used to refer to the spot in a computer’s motherboard where an expansion card is installed, but it may also refer to an actual physical location such as a door, window or position at a bar.
In a slot machine, a player inserts cash or, in the case of “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, a paper ticket with a barcode, into a designated slot. The machine then activates a set of reels that spin and stop, revealing symbols. If a matching combination appears, the player receives credits based on the pay table. Depending on the machine, symbols may include stars, card suits, bars, stylized lucky sevens, and various pictured fruits.
With the advent of microprocessors, manufacturers began to assign weightings to each symbol on each reel. This allowed them to create combinations that appeared more frequently on the payline than they actually did on a physical reel.
In addition to weighting, modern slots use microprocessors to produce different probabilities for each symbol on each reel. This allows them to produce much larger jackpots than the older mechanical machines. However, the large size of these jackpots makes them less attractive to players who are concerned about the house edge.