A slot is a narrow notch, groove, or opening, such as a keyway in machinery or a slit for a coin in a vending machine. A slot may also refer to:

In computer science, a slot is a reserved space in the memory that can be used by an application or process. Slots are typically allocated in a memory hierarchy to maximize performance and minimize resource consumption. A slot is often implemented as an alias for a block of reserved memory, and may be accompanied by other attributes such as size, priority, and ownership.

A’slot’ is also the name of a position in a group, series, or sequence. For example, a person’s place in the order of a line up or down at school is referred to as their’slot.’ A slot in the telecommunications system can be a reserved ‘channel’ to transmit data between devices such as a cell phone and a server.

The term slot is also used to describe the amount of time or space a person has available for a particular activity, such as a reservation at a restaurant or an appointment with a doctor. The term is often shortened to simply slot when talking about scheduling events or meetings.

A slots game is a casino game where players insert cash or, in the case of “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, paper tickets with barcodes to activate mechanical reels that spin and stop to reveal symbols. When a player matches a winning combination of symbols, the player receives credits according to the paytable. Symbols vary by theme and can include classic objects such as fruits and bells, or stylized lucky sevens.

Modern slot machines use microprocessors to determine which symbols appear on each reel. This allows manufacturers to “weight” certain symbols, so that they have a greater likelihood of appearing on a given payline than other symbols. This can be misleading to the player, as a given symbol might appear only once on the physical reel displayed to the player, but could actually occupy several stops on multiple reels.

Some slot games allow the player to choose the number of paylines on which they wish to play. Others have fixed paylines. If a slot is paying out frequently, it is described as hot. If it hasn’t paid out for a long time, it is described as cold. Some slots add a percentage of each wager to a jackpot that can be won at any time by a player. This type of slot is called a progressive jackpot. This jackpot can reach millions of dollars. In contrast, a standalone jackpot is a smaller amount that can be won only once.