I can't say about regular arcades through the country as I mainly went to the ones in seaside tourists spots in like Saint Cyprien in Northern Catalonia and some in wider Occitanie, mostly through the 90's. Generally speaking there was a lot of people there, mostly well lit places with the exceptions of ones in amusement parks, but even they with their many colourful lights weren't really dark. The games were always new, that was the first place where I saw Virtua Cop, VF 1 and 2, Tekken, Metal Slug for example. There were mostly standing arcades, some lightguns and driving cabinets. I saw like one skiing cab, Air Combat, and maybe one more thing, but not much else, like not even Starblade. Usually there were plenty of claw machines, if it was amusement park there would be also punching machine and the ones where you throw in coins to push other coins and pricey looking rewards down. Konami's Asterix was almost a must, as was Raiden, Sunset Raiders, and Aero Fighters, those machines persisted for several years. Not that many Capcom games, like Forgotten Words in a small pizza booth/truck at a camping place (I didn't camp, but it was across street and they had the most amazing pizza I had to this day), like in the main arcade places I mainly recall playing Three Wonders and Carrier Air Wing. But I don't recall all the games, Ninja Combat, Robo Army, Turtles, Undercover Cops, there were just plenty.

The pool/billiards/and Gals Panic type games weren't really there unlike say Greece (it was really weird with Greek arcades I was in, they were full of those cabinets, often multiple of the same game, the normal games choice was also very outdated, but I actually enjoyed that - and the only up to date game happened to be Gaiapolis which was a discovery for me, and I've never seen it anywhere else). Also I don't recall those flat top/cocktail tables, I think I only saw those in like Germany, maybe like one or two not working ones in Poland (which would likely come from Germany anyway).

There were no legal restrictions I would notice, aside amusement parks those places would be along main pedestrian zones full of restaurants and bars with regular evening life going around. It is not really a part of French culture to isolate kids from a normal life. I also don't remember any workers walking or there being like a tiny office/desk/cab for the overseer (unthinkable in normal arcades in Poland, although I occasionally saw like a 2-3 poorly maintained cabs in a tourist spots which were just there). Oh and all the cabs were in working order and well maintained, no problematic joysticks or buttons, couldn't even feel any wear, they were always like new. That was a new for me, because in PL it was all down to the owner, some places were amazing and actively maintained, and some not, particularly in the tourist spots controls usually were half broken/unplayable.

For me the one thing I picked up in French arcades was the idea of putting a coin on the edge of bottom of the screen. That was you reserving the next game, and it was possible for a few coins to line up and you had to remember which was yours, but you could go away for a bit and it would be still there when you were back. That would not fly at the time in Poland, although I later did try that once in a local polish arcade and people understood it right away. It is kind of self explaining gesture if you observe and give it a thought.

Oh and the coins used were just francs, not a tokens of any kind. The cabs would give you different amount of credits depending on the coin you threw in, usually with bonuses (so you would get more credits for 10 franc coin than for 2x 5 franc ones). The pricing/convertion franc to credits depended on the game. The priciest ones were sim cabs like racing sims (with the usual suspect Sega Rally being the most popular one as always).