Two of the most amazing things from my childhood are celebrating their 30th anniversaries this weekend: Pacman and Empire Strikes Back. It’s hard to believe it’s been thirty years since Pacman fever reigned, but even harder to believe that this is the weekend I got sick at the movie theatre because I made my dad take me to see Empire Strikes Back and didn’t tell him I had the flu.

My friends and I played Pacman on the Atari nonstop, and when we weren’t playing on the Atari, we were at the local arcade feeding quarters into the console. I even raised my daughter on Pacman, and today she can be found with her Gameboy in the corner chomping pellets and chasing ghosts all over the maze.

Google is celebrating the anniversary with a special Pacman game you can play right on your search screen, but if you don’t feel like leaving the site and opening Google up, I embedded a Pacman game you can play right here:

1980 was a life-shaping year, as Empire Strikes Back hit theatres too. Along with playing Pacman, my friends and I also played Star Wars, reliving the new movie as best we could since we wouldn’t be able to watch it outside the theatre for years after it was released. We could often be found parading around with cardboard laser guns, me with my hair in cinnamon buns, our Han Solo telling Chewbacca (the neighbor’s dog) to “Laugh it up, Fuzzball.”

The world wasn’t like it is today, but both Pacman and Empire Strikes Back had a huge impact on the youth of yesteryear. Even if you weren’t alive in 1980, you’ve heard of and probably enjoyed both at some point during the last thirty years.

Take a moment to celebrate today. I mean, come on… It’s not every day Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite.

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