Before each ball launch pretend to sneeze into your hands. The germaphoebes will lose all concentration when they are up.

You are not allowed to play Extra Balls in regular league play. Do not waste time going for them as many are sucker shots. Example is White Water. Going for that shot is asking for a drain.

So there is a good tip. Learn the league rules as well as the game rules.

Play one extra ball? Sounds a bit difficult to monitor and just generally strange. I guess that is the rule your Tournament Director setup for your league.

What if bonus multipliers carry over? Can you skip the first extra ball offered (say on ball 1) hoping to get an EB on ball 3 when it is worth more?

The rule we use in league play is to disable any extra balls on the machine when possible. If not possible the extra ball needs to be plunged. The player can setup the skill shot however they want (for example moving a certain lane to be lit). But then they must plunge the ball and not touch the machine.

This strategy is more of a tragedy. That is a risk.

To the OP that brings up another thing about playing in league. And it is something that the pros would consider wrong with the way I play.

"Play your game the way you practice"

I don't, I should. I risk a lot when practicing but generally in league play a bit conservative and hope the points I get are solid enough to beat the others. Unless by ball 2 or 3 I am so far behind I need the risk / reward to catch up. That means switching mid game and that is not good.

I am in NEPL year round leagues in the 6 New England states (CT/MA/VT/NH/RI/ME). The last week of the last season was in 8 different locations and had 188 people show for that week. Our final tournament was at Pinball Wizards Arcade in New Hampshire and had 156 people to show for that day. That is a long day if you are not organized. Keep the rules simple and the games short by not having those EBs and everyone knows this so it is simple. Most of the people you are playing with in the final you do not play with on a regular basis. I played 3 rounds and of the 9 people I played in those rounds only 2 were from my location even though we have around 40 people per week.

While I have been playing and collecting machines for many years I never played competitive until this started only a few years ago. What a great experience.