strategy and skill stopping

[pachiwall]

I don't think you can "fool" the machine...or the engineers who rig it for "the house". I believe (as I am not certain) that most of the time, it is not a true skill stop. However in the bonus rounds of Biohazard (4 reel), if you don't eye shoot...you will be stuck there, if you eye shoot you will hit 777 easily. When the bonus round is over...eye shooting means nothing. I don't know how many machines are like this...but seems likely that some if not all do...to some degree.
Maybe it is so that you will lose at a pre determined rate...then when the random number generator says "it's your turn", then it becomes a skill stop, if particular machine is programmed to do so. If not programmed to do so, then eye shooting is worthless.
The skill stop buttons are not there to help you win. They are there to give the illusion that YOU are in control. As I understand it, Japanese law does not allow gambling, that is why you have to opt for the "special prize" and exchange it for cash somewhere else. As I understand it, the skill stop is to allow the authorties (gaming comission?) to allow for the slot machines...because the "skill" of the player makes it NOT gambling. Does the gambling commision know that the skill stop buttons only work sometimes...or are they only required to be active for X percentage of the time? I don't know.
Maybe this thread will encourage people to try eye shooting during bonus rounds and see. Maybe we all gave up because we believe they never work. Maybe all machines eye shoot sometimes...maybe only some machines eye shoot sometimes. Once again I don't know. I'm pretty confident that NONE of the machines eye shoot ALL of the time. I am also pretty sure that if the skill stop buttons mean nothing on all machines all the time, that it would likely be considered illegal gambling. So I do believe that it is some form of compromise.
I expect this thread to get some heavy debate from both extremes. It will be a bumpy ride...and a darn good read!