Sometimes you can spot the principle immediately. Sometimes you can guess what might happen for the first couple of balls, and you have to just suck it and see thereafter. Eight marbles in perpetual motion. Newton wouldn't approve. There are a few further wrinkles to the game.
Black marbles are very expensive, but acquire the correct colour when they arrive in the target bin.
You start with seven marbles of each colour. Any surviving marbles are carried forward into the next puzzle. Each puzzle is decorated with very nice Leonardo-esque sketches. Cleverly, explanatory notes in da Vinci's own fair hand form part of the background. These help you understand what new pieces of equipment do, lending a nice learning curve to the game.