A slot is a dynamic placeholder that either waits for content to be added to it (passive) or actively calls out for content to be added to it. A slot can be filled with a scenario or a targeter.
Often the term “slot” refers to a particular position in a sequence or series of events: Her TV show was scheduled for the eight o’clock slot. Alternatively, it may also refer to a period of time: I need to make sure we can fit the rooms required in our booking for the 2 pm slot.
In slots, the machine pays out prizes based on the symbols that line up along a payline on the machine’s face. Usually, a winning combination includes a specific number of symbols, which are listed in the machine’s pay table. Some machines also have a wild symbol that can substitute for other symbols to form a winning combination.
Modern slot machines have microprocessors that assign a different probability to each of the possible combinations on each reel. This means that two machines that appear identical to the player can have very different payouts, even though they have the same symbols on each reel. This difference is due to the fact that each machine uses a different set of symbols, has a different minimum bet size, and has different rules for which combinations are valid.
The pay table for a particular machine lists the amount of credits that can be won for a certain combination of symbols, and states what bet size is needed to activate the prize. The pay table is typically printed on the face of a slot machine, and can be found above or below the reels. In addition to the pay table, some slot machines have help screens that provide detailed information about the game’s rules and features.
A slot is also a type of authorization that limits the planned aircraft operations at a busy airport. The purpose is to prevent repeated delays caused by too many flights trying to take off or land at the same time.
When using the service center, slot properties can be used to determine how a request will be processed. This information is gathered from the requesting customer and then routed to the appropriate resource for processing. Depending on the type of request, this information may include a request status, a reference to the resource’s scheduler queue, or a reference to the request manager.
The ACC also supports the use of custom slot types, which allow you to map slots to any values that are not included in the built-in slot types. For example, a custom slot type can be used to define locations for a travel bot, where the corresponding value could be “city”. You can add synonyms for a custom slot type so that Dialog Engine can recognize more than one word or phrase for each entity value mapped to it. For more information about slot types, see the Using Slots section of the Personalization Programming Guide.