Mysterious Old Man

The Mysterious Old Man is a RuneScape random event. He can be a helpful event that does a number of things.

While his origin is unknown, it was alluded to in a Letter to Saradomin that he is a wizard practicing the magic of Summoning.

Mystery Box
The Mysterious Old Man may give players a mystery box. If opened, a simple question of matching the number/shape to the shape/number on the box will be given and if answered correctly, a mystery prize will be given (usually coins or gems). If the question is answered incorrectly, another mystery box will appear. Over time, if box has not been opened, the box will multiply and eventually fill a player's inventory. The maximum number of boxes are player can have at any given time is 28, 1 in each free inventory slot and then all the rest in the final box slot. It cannot be dropped and if attempted to; the original box will stay and another will appear in the player's inventory. Attempting to bank the box or perform Low or High Level Alchemy on it will also cause it to duplicate. Only the original mystery box contains a prize. Many players complain about this random event because it gives bad rewards and consumes time. This random event seems to be the most common in Rune Scape.

The box may contain
 * Coins (20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640)
 * Uncut diamond
 * Uncut ruby
 * Uncut emerald
 * Uncut sapphire
 * Half of a key
 * Cosmic talisman

Appearance
The Mysterious Old Man will sometimes appear without giving anything and will not leave until players talk to him. Quickly talking to him will cause him to give coins or an item. If ignored, he will teleport players to a random location.

The Mysterious Old Man apparently also appears underwater, wearing a diving apparatus and a fishbowl helmet.

Maze
Sometimes the man will appear and send players into a maze. Players who quickly find their way to the centre of the maze will be given a prize and be teleported back to where they originally were. The faster they are, the better the prize. There are chests throughout the maze which have items inside and time can be spent to search for them but the final prize is a lot larger.

Other Events
The Mysterious Old Man will also sometimes appear and transport players to the Mime, Pinball and Surprise Exam! events. In the Pinball event he appears to be its master, while the other events are controlled (coordinated) by other characters, such as the Mime or Mr. Mordaut.

Trivia

 * The mystery box used to feature colours, but people with colour blindness were unable to do this so Jagex changed it to only feature shapes and numbers.