I tried to stay true to the 3 ball, but some games I just could not make significant advancement without using 5 ball. I switched my Star Wars LE, Ghostbusters LE and GOTG Pro to 5 ball. It started with Ghostbusters and the flipper gap- I was literally getting kicked in the nuts with ball drains. Some games would be a sin to change to 5 ball-like Transformers, Hobbit, and other long ball time games.