Went to do the ol' C&B and realized early on that I was a missing a ball. While people were examining the cups/wand i was frantically digging in my close up case for another.
Realizing it was three or nothing, I went ahead with a different routine that, oddly enough, I'd played with the night before. It was based on a George Tovar routine but I was working out a way of doing my loading sequence without any extras in play. I came up with a way to do it but i figured I'd never really need it. Well sure enough I did. Once I got into the routine it really went pretty smoothly. Good to know it's there if I need it again.
Who knows, I might even do that version every now and again just to do it.
It's kind of like how I've done both an un-gimmicked version and gimmicked version of coins across. I like both but they're different.

It's always a good idea to have a three ball routine in your repertoire.

If you want one that has been polished, take a look at Ken Brooke's routine. It's in Routined Manipulations - Part 1 by Lewis Ganson and a couple of other sources, as well.

Yeah, I'm curious if anyone else prefers a three ball routine. Extras can mean a cleaner routine, but there are purists who might like the simplicity of "what you see is what you get." It's hard to know if the reaction would be any different since the end is basically the same.

This is a valid point, of course. On the other hand, there are a couple of really great five ball routines that most spectators think involve only three balls.

One is by a sleight of hand purist -- Harry Riser.