A narrow depression or hole, usually in a machine, where coins are dropped. Also, the position in a series or sequence, such as a time slot for a haircut or a place on an airplane’s wings to reduce drag. (From Middle Low German slit, from Proto-Germanic *sluta, related to the verb sleutana, “to lock”; cognate with Dutch sloot, German Schloss, and Swedish slott)
In a slot machine game, players insert cash or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, a paper ticket with a barcode into a designated slot. The machine then activates, spinning reels and displaying symbols in an order determined by the random number generator (RNG). Winning combinations pay out credits according to a payout table. Some machines offer additional bonuses and features, such as Wild symbols that substitute for other symbols to form winning lines.
Slots have a long history and continue to be popular with players across the globe. Their emergence as commercially successful games has encouraged research into the underlying psychological mechanisms that drive their appeal. Dixon et al. found that reward reactivity and dark flow are associated with enjoyment of slots. This study further identifies the importance of dark flow and the effect of near-misses in a player’s enjoyment of a slot game. Further, the current study demonstrates that a single machine can produce different levels of enjoyment based on its design and features. In addition to enhancing the overall gameplay, many slots now feature multiple ways to increase the player’s chances of hitting the jackpot by adding regular or progressive multipliers to the prize pool.