A narrow, elongated depression, groove, notch, or slit, especially one for receiving or admitting something, as a coin or a letter. Also:
In electromechanical slot machines, a malfunction in which the machine fails to pay out even the minimum amount over multiple pulls (or sometimes at all). In modern online slots, the term is usually applied to any kind of mechanical failure that might prevent the machine from playing games. Examples include a door switch in the wrong state, reel motor out of whack, or paper ticket out of barcode. Occasionally, an electronic problem may be blamed on a “tilt,” but such incidents are rare since electromechanical machines no longer have tilt switches.
Casino gamblers often look for “loose slot spots,” i.e., the areas of the casino that are highly visible and designed to draw passersby. These spots are rumored to have high payouts. However, a player should check the payout table before settling on a particular machine.
In ATG software, a slot is a dynamic placeholder that either waits for content (a passive slot) or actively calls for it (an active slot). A slot can be filled with content using a scenario (the Add Items to Slot action or the Render Content in Slots action), or by passing in a URL to fill a slot directly. The contents of a slot are dictated by the type of scenario used to fill it, as well as several additional properties that are defined in the ACC.
