The term "recreational programming" may strike some people as a pure contradiction in terms. However, there are few more effective ways to learn something well than to play with it. Even up until the point that it breaks. Within programmers, there is a odd nexus where such concepts as esoteric languages, polyglot programs, and "code golfing" meet, cross over, and become horribly yet fascinatingly entangled. These pursuits, which strike many outsiders as intrinsically useless, instead reveal what happens when programming becomes, like art, an activity that is pursued for its own sake, and the ridiculous becomes the highest good. If you don't know how to program but want a deeper glimpse into the minds of those who do, then this talk is for you.