"Phat" redirects here. For the 2012 April Fools' item also referred to as a "Phat", see Peahat

Partyhat was removed from RuneScape after an update, but still exists in-game for those who had obtained it.

Partyhats are obtained by opening Christmas crackers, dropped during the 2001 Christmas event. There are six different coloured partyhats, all with the same shape and size (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white). When worn by a player they resemble a crown. Because they are discontinued, they are very rare, much sought after and worth billions of coins, although they don't offer any stat bonuses. These are currently the most valuable objects in RuneScape. Partyhats are used to hold large sums of cash, because the gold coin limit is 2.147B and these hats are gaining wealth over time. Due to their rarity, these items hold a much higher Street value than their value on the Grand Exchange. In Runescape Classic, the price of partyhats was drastically changed after players abused a glitch by creating many partyhats (see Partyhat duplication glitch for more info.) Due to their high price, they have become recognised as a symbol of wealth in the game by players and non-player characters alike.

Over time, the volume of partyhats has been diminishing. The much smaller number of players when partyhats were released meant that not as many were acquired when available. Also, at the time of the release, partyhats were virtually worthless, meaning many players discarded them immediately. The majority of the few players who held onto them eventually quit RuneScape or were banned, leaving the number of active players with partyhats at a very, very low number.

Surprisingly, partyhats do play a pivotal role in the RuneScape economy. Players will use these items as investments, cash placements, staked items, and collectables. They are used as cash holders for players because of the stability of the item. Majority of partyhats are traded in world 2 around the grand exchange, but collectibles players wishing to buy or sell a partyhat may either have to advertise on the RuneScape forums, leave it in the Grand Exchange, or trade at much lower/higher prices to accommodate the few players that are willing to trade partyhats.

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The partyhats

There are six partyhat colours: white, blue, red, green, yellow, and purple. In RuneScape Classic, all partyhats were simply named "partyhat" and were only distinguishable by the colour of the item. However, purple partyhats were coloured magenta in RuneScape Classic.

Jagex's stance on partyhats

Jagex have stated that they do not wish to recreate the effect that partyhats have had on RuneScape's economy. This is the reason that tradeable holiday drops were replaced with events with non-tradeable rewards. After releasing the fish mask, Jagex changed its stance on tradeable discontinued items, with the mask being the first tradeable discontinued item released since the Santa Hat.

Mod Mark said that if a large number of discontinued rares fell victim to a botnuke, Jagex would look at ways to re-introduce them, probably via the Grand Exchange.

April Fool's Day 2012

As part of the April Fool's celebration in 2012, Jagex released an update claiming "Green p-hats ... are lying strewn throughout the streets of Lumbridge, Varrock and Falador." Rather than Green partyhats being dropped, peahats were dropped.

15 Days of Christmas

During the 15 Days of Christmas in 2013, these items, along with other Christmas-themed equipment, were given the Hybrid style of combat, and stats that scaled with the player's levels. This was so players could use these items in combat to assist in hunting for festive crackers during the event.

April Fool's Day 2018

Upon logging in on April Fool's day 2018, the player would find various partyhats randomly spawning in certain parts of the world. Trying to pick one up would yield the message:

You cast the partyhat aside and pick up a precious ring you find underneath it instead.

A Ring of Rares would appear in your inventory which you could transform into any colour party hat as well as a number of other rare items. If a player tried to pick up another spawned partyhat while in posession of the ring, the game would yield the message:

You don't feel like picking it up.

After the event was over, all of the rings were removed from the game.

Trivia