Storyline 360 Variables

Hello Everyone,

I have currently read a couple of books on Articulate Storyline.  Me and a fellow student have decided to start deconstructing some of the great downloadable courses available from the E-Learning Heroes website.  We have come across one animation consisting of a spinning item using various states.  It should have been easy to recreate, but it has proven challenging.  We were adamant we did not want to look at the original file.

Eventually we have got everything working (although we did need to cheat by looking at the original).  My question is why sdo we need the first rule in the attached photo.  If we disable the rule we no longer have the spinning desired effect.  It simply spins once and then will not progress any further.   We are confused as to why this would be.  We thought rotating the item between two different states would be enough, however it appears the normal state comes into play and changes the rules.

Any help with the normal state would be much appreciated.  We do not understand why this rules must be there.