Testing going into a loop without passing the loop count parameter. Everything worked as expected.

gistfile1.txt

ruleset a60x412 {
  meta {
    name "test-non-passed-parameter"
    description <<
      test-non-passed-parameter
    >>
    author "Mike Grace"
    logging on
  }

  rule start {
    select when pageview ".*"
    {
      notify("getting started","Not passing count param") with sticky = true;
    }
    fired {
      raise explicit event loopy;
    }
  }
  
  rule loopy {
    select when explicit loopy
    pre {
      loopCount = event:param("loopCount");
    }
    if (loopCount < 5) then {
      notify("Loopy!","loopCount: #{loopCount}") with sticky = true;
    }
    fired {
      raise explicit event loopy
        with loopCount = loopCount + 1;
    } else {
      raise explicit event loopy_bye_bye
    }
  }
  
  rule loopy_bye_bye {
    select when explicit loopy_bye_bye
    {
      notify("All done!","That was fun. : )") with sticky = true;
    }
  }

}