With the flashing yellow-tinted lights and clinking and ringing of the pinball machines in The Machine SHOP, it’s easy to feel transported to a 1970s video arcade.

But it’s 2016, and the sounds come from Langley’s newest spot for entertainment.

The Machine SHOP, located at 630 Second St., opened its doors in July with a grand opening of epic proportions. Hundreds of people came into the arcade throughout the day and night. Local bands played during the house-warming party while gamers lined up to play on pinball machines of an era gone by.

The arcade is an offshoot of owner Tim Leonard’s hobbies: collecting pinball machines, building and fixing things and lights and art. Leonard’s 25 or so pinball machines are exclusively electromechanical machines, a model that pinball companies stopped producing in 1979.

Today’s pinball machines are digitized, using circuit boards and digital displays rather than electromechanical relays and scoring reels. With those new “fancy pants machines,” Leonard said, the sound and feel that early gamers experienced with the old machines is lost.

“You can just feel the machine moving and working as the ball pings around and you work the flippers,” Leonard said. “It’s exciting, and I just love the sound of the old machines. You don’t really see any electromechanical machines in arcades now.”

Leonard said he plans to turn the arcade into a hub for Langley’s arts. The walls are decked out with his own light fixtures, which he made in his shop; He also plans to display local artists’ work in his arcade space.

Monthly concerts are planned for the first Saturday of every month as part of the Langley Art Walk.

The Machine SHOP is essentially Leonard’s creative outlet. The owner of Heavy Metal Works, a custom metal shop that builds structures and art from metals as well as light fixtures, Leonard is always working on multiple projects. About five years ago he began collecting retro pinball machines and, in the process, learned how to repair them and build them from scratch.

As the years passed, his living room filled with his pinball machines.

“I have 25 or so machines, so I had to do something,” Leonard recalled. “I was either going to start selling them or make a business.”

When Island Time Fitness left 630 Second St. in May, Sundance Bakery owner Kelly Baugh contacted Leonard.

The bakery is next door to the arcade, and the businesses share an entrance.

Leonard said he thought it the perfect fit. He didn’t have to worry about noise being an issue, and Baugh was looking forward to the additional business for her bakery.

The two hashed out an arrangement where bakery employees would monitor the arcade when Leonard wasn’t present, keeping his expenses low. Rent is reasonable given it’s a shared space.

Their deal was crucial, as arcades have been struggling to stay afloat these days since quarters don’t have the value they once did in the arcade heyday, Leonard said.

“I draw people into the bakery, they draw people into the arcade — it’s a very symbiotic relationship,” Leonard said. “There’s also the laundromat next door, so you can play pinball while your laundry is drying.”

Langley Mayor Tim Callison said he’s is excited about the prospect of having a business up the hill on Second Street where kids and old timers alike can have fun.

The arcade offers kids a place to hang out after school, something that is in short supply in Langley, he said.

Callison said the arcade may increase foot traffic to the west side of town, as well as providing a place for local artists and musicians to show off their talent, including Leonard.

“The arcade brings a little bit of edginess combined with a retro feel that takes people back to their days when they were kids,” Callison said.

“I think he’s captured that pretty well.”

“I think it’s going to add more diversity regarding what we have to offer in terms of entertainment in Langley,” Langley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michaleen McGarry said.

“There was the full gamut of ages there, and I thought that was fun.”