Mr. Sphere

This puzzle comes to me from HKNowstore.   All I know about it is that it was invented in Japan and is supposedly not copied from any other puzzle.  Or is it?  I'm not being generous here.  This puzzle was designed independently without having seen any other puzzles similar to it.  Ok.  That's happened before.  I'll take that.

So what does this puzzle do?  It rotates. It moves around and you need to line up the colors.  Three to be exact, red, white, and blue. (Great colors don't you think!)  There are 5 red tiles, 5 blue tiles, and 10 white tiles.  Each tile rotates around a central black stationary section and it reminds me a lot of a soccer ball.

Now what do I really think?  I think it is a Thomas Ball in disguise.  It's a lot smaller than the Thomas Ball and fits rather nicely in my hand.

When playing, you do need to be careful that it's lined up perfectly or the tiles ride over the black bits.  But even when this happens, it is an easy fix.  If you missed out on the Thomas Ball craze in the 90's, now is your chance to get one.  Why not!  Video here.