Explore the concept of vertical assignment in Ruby through this humorous and insightful conference talk. Delve into the world of metaprogramming as Kevin Kuchta demonstrates how to create a fully functional vequals operator using tools like Ripper and TracePoint. Learn about leftward and rightward assignment in Ruby, and discover the potential for vertical assignment. Gain valuable insights into Ruby's syntax and metaprogramming capabilities while enjoying a lighthearted approach to programming concepts. Walk through the process of lexing tokens, searching for identifiers, and implementing both high-level and low-level approaches to create this unconventional operator. Although the talk is filled with intentionally bad ideas, extract useful tricks and techniques that can be applied to everyday Ruby programming or used to playfully challenge colleagues.