Head banner

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/8169/headbannertitle.png

Head banners are the banners at the top of the RuneScape website. The first one, Island Assault, was released on 1 July 2008 when the RuneScape website received a huge makeover and the game itself was upgraded to RuneScape High Detail, before that just a logo was shown which would also change sometimes during holidays or major updates (these are also archived in the "Pre-2008" article below).

After the release of "Island Assault", the banner has been frequently featuring holiday events or major events in RuneScape and since 2011 also special offers and new quests, from 2012 on almost every update gets his own Head banner.

'The banners are archived per year, click the links below to view that year's banners.'' This year's banners (2012) can be seen further below on this page.'''

Banners released before 2008
Click to view.

Banners released in 2008
Click to view.

Banners released in 2009
Click to view.

Banners released in 2010
Click to view.

Banners released in 2011
Click to view.

The Firemaker's Curse



 * Event: The release of the master quest The Firemaker's Curse.
 * Scene: Char can be seen with some fire.

2012 Winter Event - Hati & Sköll (1st banner)



 * Event: The return of Hati and the release of his brother Sköll.
 * Scene: A close-up of Hati's eyes.

2012 Winter Event - Hati & Sköll (2nd banner)



 * Event: Extra advertisment for Hati and Sköll informing people about the bonus XP rewards they give.
 * Scene: A close-up of Hati's eyes.

The Elder Kiln



 * Event: The release of the new master quest The Elder Kiln, the new single player minigame the Fight Kiln, both came with an Early Bird Action and a graphical rework of the TzHaar.
 * Scene: A TzHaar-Ket can be seen with the Fight Kiln in the background.

Squeal of Fortune



 * Event: The release of the Squeal of Fortune.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen with the Squeal of Fortune spinning on the right of him, if you hover the wheel it will slow down and stop on a random symbol.

Bonus XP Weekend (March 2012)



 * Event: Announcement for the fifth Bonus XP Weekend, that was held from 16 to 19 March 2012.
 * Scene: A Frost Dragon roaring with on the right two unkown characters.

Exclusive Item: Barbed Bow - Membership Card Advertisement



 * Event: The release of the Barbed bow, the fourth Vanity Item that you could recieve by redeeming a 90 days Membership card.
 * Scene: A Barbed Bow can be seen on the left with on the right a 90 days membership card.

Member's Loyalty Programme Discounts Advertisement



 * Event: Advertisement for the discounts on various items in the Loyalty Shop that came with the release of the fourth batch.
 * Scene: Same as the previous loyalty banner, but with some different lighting and some of the new auras behind the knight.

Morytania Task Set (Achievement Diary)



 * Event: The release of the Morytania Task Set (Achievement Diary) with an additional Early Bird Bonus.
 * Scene: The Barrows' barrows with on the right a Vyrewatch.

Squeal of Fortune - Get more spins



 * Event: The release of the ability to purchase more spins on the Squeal of Fortune for real money and also to get them through various other ways in-game, like D&amp;D's, monster killing, skilling, etc.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen on the left, holding an XP lamp, with on the right the Squeal of Fortune and some curtains in the background.

Easter 2012 - Chocatrice vs Evil Chicken



 * Event: The release of the 2012 Easter event.
 * Scene: The Chocatrice and the Evil Chicken can be seen painted on a wooden board.

Mad May and Wild Weekends



 * Event: Announcement of Mad May and the Wild Weekends coming up. Which, as the banner says, will give a bonus spin on the Squeal of Fortune everyday you log-in during May whilst being a member, will give 5000 Loyalty Points and an item that will give 250K Bonus XP if you've been a member for the whole of May. There will also be something different every weekend during May (4 weekends), known as the Wild Weekends.
 * Scene: Ozan can be seen on the right as he appears in the RuneScape Cinematic Trailer.

Squeal of Fortune - Earn Spins For Completing Quests!



 * Event: Two spins on the Squeal of Fortune are now awarded for every quest you complete.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen on the left, holding an XP lamp, with on the right the Squeal of Fortune, this time with the sky in the background.

Fremennik Sagas II



 * Event: The release of the second batch of Fremennik Sagas.
 * Scene: Thok can be seen on the left wearing Mini-marm and Mrs mini-marm as gauntlets and Moia on the right, about to enter a dungeon.

The Runespan



 * Event: The release of the Runespan.
 * Scene: The Runespan can be seen with a wizard on the left.

First Wild Weekend of May 2012



 * Event: Announcement of the first Wild Weekend of May 2012 that was held from Saturday the 5th to Monday the 7th, which increased the chance of getting Horns and Tattoos from the Squeal of Fortune.
 * Scene: Some well-known characters in cartoon form from RuneScape can be seen on the left having a party, with an image of a head tattoo and some horns on the right.

Bonfires



 * Event: The release of Bonfires.
 * Scene: Some players gathered at a bonfire.

Second Wild Weekend of May 2012



 * Event: Announcement of the second Wild Weekend of May 2012 that was held from Saturday the 12th to Monday the 14th, which doubled the runes and thus also the points gained from siphoning in the Runespan.
 * Scene: Some well-known characters in cartoon form from RuneScape can be seen on the left having a party, with the Runespan logo behind the text on the right.

Third Wild Weekend of May 2012 - Double Drops and Monkey Mayhem



 * Event: Announcement of the third Wild Weekend of May 2012 that was held from Saturday the 19th to Monday the 20th.
 * Double drops: Most of the boss monsters and the monsters in the Stronghold of Security, Forinthry Dungeon and the Chaos Tunnels (Excluding Bork) had their drops doubled.
 * Spin to Win: Some exclusive monkey-themed items were added on the Squeal of Fortune.
 * Scene: Some well-known characters in cartoon form from RuneScape can be seen on the left having a party, with some of the monkey-themed items on the right.

Squeal of Fortune - 15 Bonus Spins



 * Event: When redeeming a 90 or 100 day RuneScape Game Card between the 18th and 28th of May you'll earn 15 bonus spins on the Squeal of Fortune.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen on the left holding some Game Cards with on the right the same Game Cards shown bigger.

Fourth Wild Weekend of May 2012 - Monkey Mania



 * Event: Announcement of the fourth and last Wild Weekend of May 2012 that was held from Saturday the 26th to Monday the 28th.
 * Chase the Monkey!: During that weekend players were able to hunt down 10 monkeys in a similiar way to the Penguin Hide and Seek D&amp;D and were awarded with a Monkey cape if they did so.
 * Zombie Monkey Invasion!: Similiar to the The Dead Walk! community event from the 2011 Hallowe'en event, but this time with monkeys! If you managed to defeat 5 Zombie Monkeys on a given day, you'd recieve an Xp lamp for you effort. You were able to do this 3 times as the Wild Weekend ran for 3 days.
 * Scene: Some well-known characters in cartoon form from RuneScape can be seen on the left having a party, with a woman wearing the Monkey cape on the right.

Diamond Jubilee



 * Event: The start of the Diamond Jubilee street party in Varrock based on the real world Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Along with this some exclusive royal themed items, only available during the summer months are available on the Squeal of Fortune. These being the Queen's Guard outfit and the Dragon ceremonial outfit, the second being to celebrate the release of the Queen Black Dragon. Later, on the 1st of June the fourth Cryptic Clue Fest started with a Diamond Jubilee theme.
 * Scene: The flag of Great Britain with on the right the Squeal of Fortune and the Queen's Guard outfit next to it.

Queen Black Dragon



 * Event: The release of the Queen Black Dragon.
 * Scene: A player wielding the Royal crossbow, a Dragonfire shield and a Royal cape about to shoot the queen.

Squeal of Fortune - Win More, Win Big!



 * Event: The chances to recieve a super-rare item has been increased by ten times, more and increased in value Coin prizes, more useful common items in increased quantities and new more useful and valuable items have been added to replace the most commonly discarded items on the Squeal of Fortune.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen on the left holding an Xp lamp with the Squeal of Fortune on the right.

The Evolution of Combat Beta - Sign Up Now Open



 * Event: The launch of The Evolution of Combat beta sign-up where you could sign up between June 1st and June 19th for the beta of the Combat update which is scheduled to be released later this year.
 * Scene: On the bottom left a mage can be seen holding a Polypore Staff, above her a warrior, possibly Mandrith, who appears to be wielding a Dharok's greataxe, on the top right there's a ranger firing what appears to be a Dark bow and on the bottom left another warrior in Steel equipment wielding some kind of whip and holding a Dragonfire shield in the other hand. A Vyrewatch can be seen in the top left and a big Troll on the right, various other foes can be vaguely seen in the background.
 * Note: Not all parts of the banner can be seen here as with the default banner it continues on the homepage's background. The mage's staff can only be seen for a very small part on the actual banner for example, the Vyre and troll don't appear on the banner itself at all. The full background can be seen here.

Squeal of Fortune - Squeal of Neptune



 * Event: The Squeal of Fortune was temporary (for 1 week) renamed to the Squeal of Neptune along with the Fish flingers update and instead of the usual common prizes, you had a chance to get some fish and fishing related items. There is also a chance to win an exclusive tradable Fish mask which will be available on the rare slots on Squeal till the end of this summer. During the first week only (while it was still called Squeal of Neptune) it appeared on the common slots, thus giving you a greater chance to win one.
 * Scene: Yelps wearing a diving helmet can be seen underwater opening a treasure chest containing various treasure and a Fish mask.

Squeal of Fortune - Spins on sale



 * Event: Spins were on sale between Friday 15th June and Monday 18th June. If you had purchased spins during that time you would've gotten 50% extra. So purchasing a 10 spins package would have gotten you 15, while purchasing 25 spins would've gotten you 35.
 * Scene: Yelps can be seen on the left holding an Xp lamp with the Squeal of Fortune on the right.

Bounty Hunter Returns... (The Crucible)



 * Event: The release of the third reinstallment of Bounty Hunter, the Crucible.
 * Scene: The Crucible arena.

The Evolution of Combat Beta - Coming Soon



 * Event: Was put up when the beta sign-ups closed and it's less than one week before the beta will launch.
 * Scene: On the bottom left a mage can be seen holding a Polypore Staff, above her a warrior, possibly Mandrith, who appears to be wielding a Dharok's greataxe, on the top right there's a ranger firing what appears to be a Dark bow and on the bottom left another warrior in Steel equipment wielding some kind of whip and holding a Dragonfire shield in the other hand. A Vyrewatch can be seen in the top left and a big Troll on the right, various other foes can be vaguely seen in the background.
 * Note: Not all parts of the banner can be seen here as with the default banner it continues on the homepage's background. The mage's staff can only be seen for a very small part on the actual banner for example, the Vyre and troll don't appear on the banner itself at all. The full background can be seen here.

Squeal of Fortune - Grab The Gold!



 * Event: To celebrate in anticipation of the almost 200 million RuneScape accounts being created all Coins prizes on the Squeal of Fortune were quintupled (5x) from Friday 22nd June to Monday 25th June and a premanent super-rare 200M coins prize was added.
 * Scene: Yelps can bee seen robbing a safe, having put the money in a bag that has 'Squeal of Fortune' on it, ready to be put on the Squeal.

Exclusive Item: Flaming skull - Membership Card Advertisement



 * Event: The release of the Flaming skull, the fifth Vanity Item that you can recieve by redeeming a 90 days Membership card.
 * Scene: A red Flaming skull can be seen on the left.

The Evolution of Combat Beta - Live!



 * Event: The opening of the Evolution of Combat beta.
 * Scene: On the bottom left a mage can be seen holding a Polypore Staff, above her a warrior, possibly Mandrith, who appears to be wielding a Dharok's greataxe, on the top right there's a ranger firing what appears to be a Dark bow and on the bottom left another warrior in Steel equipment wielding some kind of whip and holding a Dragonfire shield in the other hand. A Vyrewatch can be seen in the top left and a big Troll on the right, various other foes can be vaguely seen in the background. An "Acces Combat Beta Here" button is present at the bottom of the banner to link players to the Combat HQ and gain acces to the beta servers.
 * Note: Not all parts of the banner can be seen here as with the default banner it continues on the homepage's background. The mage's staff can only be seen for a very small part on the actual banner for example, the Vyre and troll don't appear on the banner itself at all. The full background can be seen here.

Third RuneScape Novel: Legacy of Blood



 * Event: The third RuneScape novel, the conclusion to T.S. Church's trilogy of RuneScape novels is now available in the Jagex store.
 * Scene: Gar'rth in his werewolf form can be seen standing on a cliff underneath a full moon.

Carnillean Rising



 * Event: The release of the Carnillean Rising quest in wich the player makes his own quest.
 * Scene: The bored Philipe Carnillean can been seen eating some sweets with an annoyed adventurer (you) waiting for him in the Forgotten Sewers beneath Ardougne.

Social Slayer



 * Event: The introduction of Social Slayer.
 * Scene: Two friends on an Ice Strykewyrm task, both wielding a Staff of Light, the girl is also wearing a Max cape and the boy is wearing a yellow coloured Slayer helmet.

Splash page
On the previous splash page (the page you got on when visiting the RuneScape website for the first time) there were also a few banners promoting the game which can be seen below. Now it just shows some screenshots.

NOTE:On the website all these banners had small animations.

Trivia

 * As of 27 April 2012 no head banners were shown, instead it just showed the background which looks the same as the default banner but without any animations. This was most likely just a bug and has been fixed with the Runespan update.