This RuneScape trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and spans the whole 25-year history of Gielinor, from the Java applet the Gower brothers ran out of their family home to the two live games that exist today. It covers the big turning points - the RuneScape 2 engine, paid membership, the December 2007 removal of free trade and the referendum that brought it back, the 2011 Bot Nuke, and the 2013 poll that resurrected an August 2007 backup as Old School RuneScape. There is plenty for players of both versions. Expect the first quest and its birthday cake, Dragon Slayer and Elvarg, Recipe for Disaster, the gods and their symbols, the origins of partyhats and other rares, the Falador Massacre, skill counts and level-99 experience, and Old School staples like the abyssal whip, the Inferno, Zulrah, Ironman mode and Leagues. Roughly a third of the questions are easy warm-ups; the rest climb toward the trivia only a long-time Gielinor resident would know. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and the official RuneScape and Old School RuneScape wikis, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year did RuneScape first go live as a public beta?
2001
It launched on 4 January, and by the end of that year the Gower brothers had set up a company to run the business side of the game.
Q 02The earliest RuneScape servers ran out of the Gower family home in which English city?
Nottingham
The game only later moved to a proper office; the company is now headquartered on a science park in a different city entirely.
Q 03What is the name of the fantasy world in which RuneScape is set?
Gielinor
The world has been explored well beyond the game itself, in tie-in novels such as Betrayal at Falador and Return to Canifis.
Q 04Which businessman joined Andrew and Paul Gower as the third founder of Jagex and served as its first CEO?
Constant Tedder
He was later replaced by a former European CEO of PayPal, and all three founders left the board of directors in December 2010.
Q 05Andrew Gower's earlier game, the direct predecessor of RuneScape, was called what?
DeviousMUD
It was a Java game with 2D isometric graphics, and its second version was briefly released as a public beta before the rewrite that became RuneScape.
Q 06In which year was RuneScape 2, with its fully three-dimensional engine, officially released?
2004
It had been announced as a 'much faster 3D engine' back in June 2002, and paying members got a beta from December 2003.
Q 07After RuneScape 2 arrived, the original game stayed online under what one-word suffix?
Classic
It stayed online for another fourteen years on a handful of servers before finally being shut down in August 2018.
Q 08Old School RuneScape was built from a backup of the game dating from which month?
August 2007
The backup was found in the company's archives and initially launched as an exact copy, though it has since taken on a life of its own.
Q 09How many votes did the 2013 poll need before Jagex would open Old School RuneScape servers?
50,000
The servers opened once that mark was hit, though the final tally fell just short of a bigger reward tier that would have promised extra incentives.
Q 10What was the final vote count of the 2013 poll that created Old School RuneScape?
449,351
The total missed the 500,000-vote reward tier, but Jagex granted several of that tier's promises anyway, including player voting on new content.
Q 11RuneScape 3 launched in which month?
July 2013
It arrived the same year Old School RuneScape opened, giving the franchise two live versions that have run side by side ever since.
Q 12RuneScape 3 was originally developed as a version built on which web technology?
HTML5
That client never left beta; at RuneFest 2014 the company announced a replacement standalone client instead.
Q 13Guinness credits RuneScape with the most original music of any video game. How many tracks did it count in July 2017?
1,198
Early tracks were MIDI creations; after RuneScape 3, many new pieces were recorded with live orchestras in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Q 21In the Draynor Bank Robbery, the Wise Old Man telegrabs and puts on a partyhat of which colour?
Blue
He confesses to the whole crime during the Love Story quest, and players can watch the bank's security recording of it for 50 coins.
Q 22What was the first quest ever released in RuneScape?
Cook's Assistant
It was one of the handful of quests available at launch and was originally developed by Paul Gower.
Q 23In the game's first quest, the cook needs a bucket of milk, an egg and which third ingredient?
A pot of flour
Players grind wheat at the mill north of the castle to make it, unless they simply buy the ingredients and finish the quest in seconds.
Q 14The October 2011 anti-bot update nicknamed the 'Bot Nuke' had what official code name?
ClusterFlutterer
Jagex estimated it wiped out 98 percent of bot accounts, and celebrated with a week of bonus events including triple Slayer experience.
Q 15The release of which skill triggered the infamous Falador Massacre?
Construction
A bug let some players keep player-versus-player privileges after leaving a player-owned house, and PC Gamer later called it one of the best-known bugs in MMO history.
Q 16The Falador Massacre took place on which date, giving it its '666' nickname?
6 June 2006
It happened on world 111 during a house party thrown by the first player to reach level 99 in the newly released skill.
Q 17Which player behind the Falador Massacre returned as a boss in its 10th anniversary event?
Durial321
In the 2016 event players were randomly possessed by his ghost, and a giant version of him could be fought in Falador on world 666.
Q 18The original coloured partyhats came out of which item during RuneScape's first Christmas event?
Crackers
Most players pulled them immediately for the rune items inside; the hats themselves were nearly worthless at the time.
Q 19How many different colours of partyhat were handed out in the original Christmas event?
Six
Two more colours have since been added: a golden one in 2021 and a black one at Christmas 2023.
Q 20A November 2003 duplication glitch made which partyhat colour, previously the rarest, the least valuable?
Purple
Players assumed the glitchers had targeted that colour, and the perception stuck long after the duplicated hats were dealt with.
Q 24The Lumbridge cook is baking a birthday cake for which noble?
Duke Horacio
The same duke hands out the anti-dragon shield later in a player's career, and speaking to him for the first time earns the 'Hail to the Duke, Baby' achievement.
Q 25In the free-to-play quest Dragon Slayer, what is the name of the dragon players must kill?
Elvarg
She is a green dragon far tougher than her kin, with dragonfire that can drain a player's stats, including prayer.
Q 26The Dragon Slayer quest sends players by ship to which island to face the dragon?
Crandor
The map to get there was torn into three pieces by the surviving mages Melzar, Thalzar and Lozar, and the ship, the Lady Lumbridge, catches fire on the way.
Q 27Completing Dragon Slayer lets free-to-play players finally equip which piece of armour?
Rune platebody
It needs 40 Defence too, and it can be smithed from five runite bars by anyone with level 99 Smithing.
Q 28What is the capital city of the kingdom of Misthalin, ruled by King Roald from his palace?
Varrock
It was originally known as Avarrocka and is the largest city available to free players.
Q 29Which god of RuneScape's pantheon is the god of balance, and the last of the Naragi race?
Guthix
His symbol is a stylised depiction of his tears, usually shown in green.
Q 30Which god's symbol is a four-pointed star, usually coloured gold or silver?
Saradomin
He was born a human and is thought to be the most widely worshipped god in the game world.