This is a track game, copyright 1888, with "safety tracks" (turnouts) on each side. In fact, it almost exactly resembles the board layout of Parker Brothers' later games Pollyanna and The Popular Game of Broadway. The only real difference is that there are no "home" paths branching off of the main track. Instead, players start pieces off on their "entrance" space (the board corner in front of them) and make a single loop of the board, returning pieces to the entrance space and then moving them to the center of the board, called the "court." THe game is first seen in the Parker Games catalog for 1889, on page 5. The ads do not indicate how the game is played, only that it includes "turned maple pieces" and a spinner. Identical listings are found in the 1890 and 1891 catalogs. By 1892, Rex is being packaged with The Amusing Game of Kilkenny Cats as two sides of a "combination" board game. It is available in this form until 1895.