I honestly don't remember why I picked up Tumblestone. I'm a fan of puzzle games in general, but I was afraid the game would be a little simplistic, and the art style didn't grab me either. Maybe I got it confused with the similarly named indie titles TumbleSeed or Grindstone? Anyway, as with the puzzle modes of various match-3-type games such as Puzzle League, you're presented with a board of variously colored squares and your job is to clear them all. You clear tiles by shooting at three in a row of the same color, and you can only shoot at tiles that are in the bottommost position of each of the board's five columns. There are only a small number of solutions, and if you hit a dead end you have to restart from the beginning, but a bit of logic (and perhaps combined with a little trial and error) will get you to the solution. Unfortunately, on the longer stages you have to work yourself through multiple puzzles, and if you reach a dead end on the last one you have to go all the way back to the first one of the set, which is fairly annoying.
I played through all of the first world of the solo story mode and some of the multiplayer versus modes, and although the main game mechanics are solid, they're not particularly distinctive or addictive. As you advance you get introduced to new types of tiles that provide various types of hindrances, and these carry over to the multiplayer mode (or you can choose to have them all unlocked and active). Although I didn't mind trying it out, in a crowded field of match-3-types puzzle games Tumblestone doesn't really stand out and I don't really see myself returning to it anytime soon. I would definitely recommend this be a game that you try before you buy, if possible.