Any way you want to jam the lights in is fine by me. If you want to be careful not to miss a cup, then the way I do that is by starting in the center, and working cup-by-cup in a spiral until I reach the outside edge of the ball-half. That works for me. Use any lights you want. Put 3 or 4 lights in the holes instead of 2. A sparkleball doesn’t care what you do.