A slot is a specific position on a football field that is occupied by the X receiver. Generally speaking, this position is used by quicker or shifty players who can’t get grabbed easily and want to avoid being hit by the cornerbacks.

A slot’s pay table serves as an essential guide for players, illuminating how different winning combinations result in payouts. The table displays symbols and their payout values, as well as scatters and wilds that can activate game bonuses.

Depending on the game, pay tables can be displayed as a list or in an information table with brightly-coloured icons and text to make it easier for players to read. In addition to paying out different amounts for different symbols, pay tables often include a minimum and maximum betting range, which are useful pieces of information that can help players decide how much to wager on each spin.

Whether online or in a real casino, the process for playing slots is simple: players insert cash or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, paper tickets with barcodes, into a designated slot on the machine. Once a bet is made, a computer uses an RNG to generate a sequence of numbers. The computer then records the three highest-value numbers and finds the corresponding stop location on each reel. If the symbols match, the player wins credits based on the payout value listed in the pay table. The payout values for different symbols vary according to the theme of the game.