RuneScape/Rare Items

Rare items in RuneScape are items that were discontinued or are untradable. There are tradable discontinued items and untradable discontinued items. The tradable items are now very few in number and are very expensive, and are mainly to show wealth or fashion.

When RuneScape was not fully 3D (known as RS Classic), JAGeX, the company that makes RuneScape, decided that they would drop items randomly across RuneScape on certain holidays.

On holidays, JAGeX would drop a certain item. For example, in December 2001 during Christmas, JAGeX dropped "Christmas crackers". These Christmas crackers could only be obtained during a certain day during December. On your way around RuneScape, you might have seen Christmas crackers appear out of nowhere. This was how the items were dropped.

Originally dropped for fun, JAGeX kept this going on for a few more years. Usually on Christmas, Halloween, and Easter, an item would be dropped. Unfortunately, as JAGeX's audience grew, people began to notice that these items could not be obtained any more unless they were bought from other players. Seeing this, players began to buy the items low, and then sell them at an incredibly high price. Thus arose RuneScape's greed among its players.

Not only that, but players were also angry if they missed the drops, as these drops were only during one day. Players would complain to JAGeX demanding that they redo the drop. These players forgot what the drops were really for&mdash;fun.

JAGeX, seeing what was going on, decided to stop these drops, as things were getting too out of hand. On December 22, 2003, JAGeX put this announcement on RuneScape's main page:

''This is just a quick note to say that there aren't going to be any RuneScape items dropped at Christmas. I really don't like having to say this, but I can't see any sensible alternative.''

''This is because the last few drops actually caused a lot of upset, and resulted in a *huge* number of complaints from players who didn't manage to get an item (or didn't get as many as their mates). Many players seemed to get really upset about the drop which is of course the exact opposite of the intended effect.''

''These drops used to be fun, when we started them - because they were a surprise, and nobody took them too seriously. They were just a little bit of extra fun for people who were around at the time. However nowadays many players seem to expect the 'surprise' drop to happen, and so it just doesn't work the same.''

''Please don't go complaining to customer-support or moaning on the forums about the Christmas drop. It won't change anything. Of course I'm expecting we'll get lots of complaints whatever we do :-( Which just goes to prove how horribly wrong the whole holiday-drop thing has become. The more complaints we get the more it proves to me that we really need to just stop the whole holiday-drop thing before the situation gets even worse.''

Although the drops were done with, JAGeX still did something fun. They made a task during Christmas, Halloween, or Easter that playesr had to finish to get an item. From then on, players had to do tasks to get items instead of items being dropped for them. The items that are still tradable are now known as "holday items", "holiday drops", or "rares".

Now, these "holiday items" that were once dropped for fun, are a symbol of greed and are very expensive. Below is information on each holiday drop as well as the tasks that gave the more recent holiday items.

...

Despite the word for word JAGEX blog copy/pasta above, the actual reason for the change of holiday items was an issue of RWT, or real world trading, and not even remotely some ideological view of "fun". If players were complaining about not recieving holidays drops (a repeated phrase of JAGEX regarding this) because they were not there or did not themselves end up finding a drop...then why would changing the drops to solely remove their ability to buy pr gain items on a later date help them? They STILL can't gain those drops. If they miss out, then they are still in a situation in which they have not recieved a holiday item. However, unlike before now they are unable to trade or be given as a gift any holiday drop they miss out on. Not just denying players the ability to do what they wish with their own items but denying those same players JAGEX claimed they were catering for to have absolutely no chance of EVER gaining those items EVER again. Sadly JAGEX' attempts to stop any resemblence of real world trading has disallowed legitimate sales of items on a ridiculously fallacious basis. Most fans found it to be insulting, more so when any call on the blatantly contradictory logic (see above copy/pasta) as being ridiculous was shouted down by JAGEX as players "not liking fun".

Tradable Holiday Items
All of these items listed below are tradable and are worth a massive amount of money to players. Also, the street prices may change over time.

It is important to note that if you die with a discontinued item, you will lose it. When you die, you keep your three most valuable items. However, you keep items based on General Store prices. So say you have a Rune Plate Body and a Blue Party. You are in the wilderness with a skull, you get attacked, you die, but you used prayer and kept one item. You look in your inventory to see that you kept the 85k Rune Plate Body instead of the 200 million + Blue Party Hat. This is because when you sell a Rune Plate Body to a General Store, you get around 25k for it, but if you sell a Blue Party Hat to a General Store, you'll only get 1 gp.

Pumpkins
Pumpkins were the first items that were dropped. In October 2001 during Halloween, pumpkins were dropped at random places all across RuneScape. They were edible, meaning that you could eat them. They healed 14 hp when eaten.
 * Street Value: 2 million to 300 million gp.
 * Examine Info: Happy Halloween.

Halloween Masks
These items were dropped on Halloween in 2002. There are three different coloured masks, each at a different value. You wear them on your face. They cover the whole face and look like you have fangs. They give no stat bonuses. All masks say the same thing when you examine them. Also, the street prices are currently going up, so these prices may become outdated.
 * Red Halloween Mask Street Price: 149 million gp.
 * Blue Halloween Mask Street Price: 121 million gp.
 * Green Halloween Mask Street Price: 99 million gp.
 * Examine Info: Aaaarrrghhh ... I'm a monster.

Christmas Crackers
A very expensive item, these were dropped in December 2001 on Christmas day. They contain a party hat and a random item. To open it, players had to use it with another player. Once opened, one player would get a party hat, and the other player would get an item.
 * Street Value: 2.0 to 6.0 billion gp.
 * Examine Info: I need to pull this.

Party Hats
These are the most expensive items in the game. There are six party hats, each with a different color. They came with a Christmas cracker (explained above), and are now very expensive to buy. They can be worn on your head and resemble a crown. They give no stat enhancements. When you examine a hat, they all say the same thing. Also, the prices for these hats are increasing, so these prices may become outdated. The "+" means "and higher".
 * Blue Party Hat Street Value: 250 million gp +.
 * White Party Hat Street Value: 230 million to 140 million gp.
 * Red Party Hat Street Value: 210 million to 115 million gp.
 * Green Party Hat Street Value: 190 million to 95 million gp.
 * Yellow Party Hat Street Value: 180 million to 85 million gp.
 * Purple Party Hat Street Value: 175 million to 80 million gp.
 * Examine Info: A hat from a Christmas cracker.

Santa Hats
Santa Hats come from the year 2000's Christmas event; where at 12:00 AM hats began appearing all over the world. Santa Hats have been said to go for several million gold a piece.

These items were also dropped on Christmas day in December 2002. You can wear them on your head. They give no stat bonuses. Also, the street price is currently dropping, so the price may become outdated. Also note that while their prices are experiencing a steady drop, during the winter months leading up to Christmas the prices will always go up due to people wanting to have something appropriate for the holidays.
 * Street Value: 6 million to 8 million gp. now they are 102m
 * Examine Info: It's a Santa hat.

Easter Eggs
These items were dropped on Easter in 2002. All players can do is eat them. They heal 12 hp.
 * Street Value: 2.7 - 2.9M
 * Examine Info: Happy Easter.

Untradeable Items
After the Santa Hat drop, JAGeX noticed that players were being rude (hoarding great sums of items) and taking advantage of these rare items, selling them at high prices. Thus, JAGeX decided to make the next holiday drops untradable. However, on Demcember 22, 2003, JAGeX announced that they would not drop a Christmas item. After this announcement, there was a year long wait until the next holiday drop.

Frog Token and Frog Costumes
One of the untradable items is a frog token and it can be taken to the clothes shop in Varrock and made into frog costumes which are also untradable.

Bunny Ears
These items were dropped on Easter 2003. When these items were dropped, you could only grab one. If you tried to grab another one, you would see the message "You don't need another pair of bunny ears, you only have 1 head." in your chat box. If you lost this item, you could go to the Varrock Clothes Store and ask for another one. You wear the ears on your head. They give no stat bonuses.
 * Examine Info: A rabbit-like adornment.

Scythes
These items were dropped on Halloween 2003. When these items were dropped, you could only grab one. If you tried to grab another one, you would see the message "You already have a scythe, you don't need another one"." in your chat box. If you lost this item, you could go to the Varrock Clothes Store and ask for another one. You can equip the scythe as a weapon. When equipped, it gave these attack bonuses:
 * +3 Stab
 * +8 Slash
 * +3 Crush
 * Examine Info: It's a Scythe.

Yo-Yos
Almost a whole year after JAGeX's announcement, a holiday drop finally happened, only modified.

Around Christmas in 2004, an NPC named Santa was put in Varrock, Falador, Ardougne, Catherby, and Yanille. Santa was left in these places for two weeks. If you talked to Santa, he would have given you a yo-yo. You could only get one from him, and if you lost it, you could get it back by talking to Diango in Draynor Village. The yo-yo cannot be equipped. If you right click on it, you can "Play Yo-yo", "Loop Yo-yo", "Walk Yo-yo", and "Crazy Yo-yo". Clicking on one if these options would make your character do a move associated with the option.
 * Examine Info: A gift from Santa.
 * Play Yo-yo: Players would let it fall then swing it back into their hands.
 * Loop Yo-yo: Players would spin it around their side twice.
 * Walk Yo-yo: Players would place it in front of them and make the yo-yo look like it's walking. You cannot walk while doing this.
 * Crazy Yo-yo: Players would do a move with the yo-yo.

Rubber Chickens
To get these items, you had to do a task.

On March 23, 2005, JAGeX put an Easter Bunny in RuneScape. If you spoke to this Easter Bunny, she gave you a basket full of eggs (there were about 2 or 3 eggs in the basket). She wanted you to give the eggs to other players under 2 minutes to win something. You had to equip the basket. When you walked somewhere, your player would skip. There was an option on players that said "Give egg". Clicking on this option would give that player an egg. When your eggs were all gone, you could go back to the Easter Bunny and she would give you a rubber chicken.

If you kept the eggs, they disappeared after two weeks, which was how long the bunny was in RuneScape. You could also eat an egg, and when you did, your character would do a chicken dance.

The rubber chicken can be equipped. When equipped, there's an option on players that allows you to hit them, though not damaging them. Also, if you unequipped the chicken, you could right click on it and there was a dance option. Clicking on this option would make your character do a chicken dance. Equipping the chicken gives these attack 'bonuses' as well as a strength bonus:
 * Stab: -100
 * Slash: -100
 * Crush: -50
 * Strength Bonus: -10

Zombie Head
For Halloween 2005 and a whole week after, some zombies were walking around in Lumbridge's swamps. If you went to the swamps, you would see the zombies. If you right clicked on them, you could talk to them or insult them. When you insulted them, their heads would fall off and you had to catch it. When you caught the head, you could then right click on it and do stuff with it, such as "Talk-At Zombie head", "Display Zombie head", and "Question Zombie head". The head is unequippable and is really only used to show off. If you lost the head, you could go back to the swamps and dig with a spade to find another head.

Also during the week were kids "trick or treating" in Lumbridge. With the Zombie Head in your inventory, you could right click on the kids and click on "trick". They would then be scared and drop some candy. You could also right click on the kids and click on "treat", giving them some money. The candy was untradable and came different colours that were red, blue, green, and purple. When the week was up, if you keep candy, it disappeared, and the kids and zombies were taken out of the game.
 * Examine Info: Alas... I hardly knew him.
 * Talk-At Zombie head: Players would have a weird conversation with the zombie.
 * Display Zombie head: Players would kneel on one knee and hold up the head and say "Alas!".
 * Question Zombie head: Players could ask an odd question to the zombie.

Hats, Scarfs, and Puppets
For two weeks during December around Christmas, JAGeX did another holiday task event. During these two weeks, you could get four different kinds of hats and four matching scarves. You could also get a puppet that can dance, walk, and do some other things. These are untradable and give no stat bonuses.

To get the hats, players had to go to a underground workshop near Diango in Draynor Village. Players had to then make boxes and put together the arms, legs, bodies, and heads of the same color to make unstrung marionettes, they could then talk to Rosie, the pixie supervisor, and she would put strings on them after which they could be put in boxes. When they were done, they had to bring the boxes to a figure resembling Santa, though wearing robes. Santa was located at the gate that leads to the members' server northwest of Falador. Different hats could be achieved by completing one, two, four, and eight boxes, then giving them to Santa.

To get the scarfs, players had to go to a underground workshop near Diango in Draynor Village. Players had to then make boxes and put painted baubles in the boxes. Each box had to be filled with five differently painted baubles. When they were done, they had to bring the boxes to Rosie, a pixie supervisor inside the workshop. She would then give you a scarf that matched the hats if you brought her one, two, four, and eight boxes.

For the puppet, players had to fill five more boxes with baubles and bring them to the center of Varrock. There, JAGeX had placed a massive tree where the fountain usually is. If you examine the tree, you would see "Carved into the bark it says Ug loves Aga." in your chatbox. Members who had finised the quest Troll Romance knew the meaning. After the five boxes were used on the tree a cut scene would show the camera showing all of the tree. It was decorated with all the baubles. When the cut scene was over, there were presents underneath the tree. When the player picked them up and opened them, they got a puppet. You could only get one present from the tree. Puppets came in the colours blue, green, and red. If a player loses their marionette, near the workshop entrance in Draynor Village is a box that can be searched giving you back a puppet.
 * Woolly Hat Examine Info: A woolly tobogganing hat.
 * Woolly Scarf Examine Info: A woolly tobogganing scarf.
 * Tri-jester Hat Examine Info: A woolly triple bobble jester hat.
 * Tri-jester Scarf Examine Info: A woolly jester scarf.
 * Jester Hat Examine Info: A woolly jester hat.
 * Jester Scarf Examine Info: A woolly jester scarf.
 * Bobble Hat Examine Info: A woolly bobble hat.
 * Bobble Scarf Examine Info: A woolly scarf.

Other Items
These items were once used in RuneScape but after some updates, you could not get them any more. Players would had them in their bank were allowed to keep them. These items are tradable.

Disk of Returning
In RS Classic, when you broke a very serious rule (such as Rule No. 4 - No Macroing), then you were teleported to a black hole in the Dwarven Mines. Once inside the hole, you would be surrounded by black. You have a small space to walk around in. Players could visit these rule-breakers by talking to Thordur, a dwarf near the hole. Talking to him allowed you to buy a "disk of returning". However, the black hole has been taken out, and you cannot buy a disk of returning any more.


 * Street Value: 4 million to 6 million gp.
 * Examine Info: Used to get out of Thordur's blackhole.