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Christmas cracker was removed from RuneScape after an update, but still exists in-game for those who had obtained it. |
A Christmas cracker is a holiday item that was dropped during the 2001 Christmas event on 25 December 2001, the first RuneScape Christmas event, and is arguably the rarest and most expensive/valuable item in RuneScape. They are almost never sold on the Grand Exchange, instead traded for cash and/or items because of their value being greater than the maximum amount of coins.
Pulling[]
A player pulling open a Christmas cracker
Held within the cracker is a partyhat and one other item or a stack of items, such as some coins, runes, or rune armour. To open it, it must be used with another player. Upon opening, the player who had the cracker and the player it was used on each have a 50/50 chance to receive a randomly coloured party hat, while the other player gets the other item.
While the free trade limit was removed, however, Mod Ash had confirmed that this was changed to the player with the cracker always gets the hat to prevent a possible method of real world trading. However, when free trade was redone, this was changed back to 50/50.
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Red partyhat | 1 | Common (32/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
 | Yellow partyhat | 1 | Common (28/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
 | White partyhat | 1 | Common (23/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
 | Green partyhat | 1 | Common (20/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
 | Blue partyhat | 1 | Common (15/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
 | Purple partyhat | 1 | Common (10/128)[1] | 2,147,483,647 |
The chances below are calculated using a sample size of 1337 crackers.[2]
| Item | Quantity | Rarity | GE price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Chocolate bar | 1 | 19.00% | 350 |
 | Silver bar | 1 | 13.24% | 574 |
 | Spinach roll | 1 | 12.42% | Not sold |
 | Iron ore | 5 (noted) | 11.74% | 2,245 |
 | Chocolate cake | 1 | 11.52% | 890 |
 | Holy symbol | 1 | 8.53% | 1,716 |
 | Silk | 1 | 8.23% | 123 |
 | Gold ring | 1 | 7.18% | 1,207 |
 | Black dagger | 1 | 4.11% | 3,995 |
 | Law rune | 1 | 3.96% | 570 |
The immense value of crackers and partyhats on the street has posed a problem; the street price of a Christmas cracker can rise above the maximum gold stack (2,147,483,647 coins), meaning items like h'ween masks, Santa hats, and other partyhats must be traded to offset the gold limit. Crackers are often traded via spirit shards and cash as well.
An update now causes the player using the cracker on another player to receive a warning message, asking them if they are sure they wish to do so. However, players are still strongly advised to keep Christmas crackers in noted form to prevent the unlikely accident of pulling them.
Rarity[]
Few Christmas crackers remain due to the fact that many were pulled immediately after the drop. The vast majority of players opened them for the rune items that could be obtained from doing so. Note that at the time of the drop, Partyhats and Christmas Crackers were virtually worthless, while certain rune items such as the rune kiteshield were worth several hundred thousand. No one would've expected the Christmas Cracker to become worth billions a decade later.
Over time, many Christmas crackers have been lost as players with older accounts have quit, have been permanently banned or have opened their Christmas crackers for fun. Their importance to the RuneScape economy (which was so crucial for years starting a few years after their release) has long diminished. Other discontinued items such as party hats, halloween masks, and santa hats are far more commonly traded.
Because their numbers are so low, many expect the Christmas cracker to become the first extinct RuneScape item. When the last player either drops, pulls, quits RuneScape, or is banned with their cracker, the item will cease to be traded on the Grand Exchange or on the street.
Price update history[]
Christmas crackers hardly ever update in price in the Grand Exchange, due to their street price being higher than max cash.
Since the free trade updates on 1 February 2011, the item has suddenly risen by 200 million coins. Jagex has stated that this was due to a miscalculation in prices for items that do not get traded in Grand Exchange often. The miscalculation was fixed two days later and the prices of most items affected were manually lowered by Jagex.
Trivia[]
- During the transition from Runescape Classic to Runescape 2, the Christmas cracker was visually changed from red to white.
- 5 noted Iron ore is now given as a secondary item from pulling a cracker. This is a change from the Runescape Classic era, when it would give 1 Iron ore certificate. However, this was also worth 5 Iron ore.
References[]
| Partyhats | |
| Other |
 Christmas cracker |
