3d puzzle sphere thingy

I saw this cool thing on ThinkGeek: the 360 Puzzle Sphere. It sure looks familiar…

Oh wait. It’s because I’ve seen it before: The original was called the Superplexus, and it was designed by artist Michael McGinnis. Here’s an article in the chron about the saga involved in bringing his dream to market.

At one point McGinnis made a giant one (6 feet in diameter!) and had it displayed at the 2007 Maker Faire.

So what is the deal? Is it a rip-off? Is McGinnis getting paid? I sure hope so!