Today was a success. I was really happy to be able to see real arcades today, and in particular very well kept and serviced games. I would post some pictures here but I am using Camillas's ipad so I can only type.
The "Tete... nuages" was a typical modern arcade, just as I had imagined it. Fortunately there weren't many people so I could do just as I had planned; walking slowly through the arcade drinking a cool juice.
The dominating genres were racers and shooters, but they had a corner with several Sega Astros with Raiden Fighters, Metal Slug (?) and even some dance machines, and there was also a small bowling alley. I didn't play anything, I never do, not even the Let's Go Jungle Special. It impresses me as an interesting experiment by Sega, but that is about it. Sadly their King of Route 66 was down, and their StarWars Racer could do with new CRTs, otherwise all games looked OK.
The Street Arcade seemed a bit less commerce inclined but had alot more enthusiasm, with modern fighting games and tournaments. Two floors with sit-at cabs, mostly Astros, also these flat ones Viewlix (?) cabs with LCDs. The guys working there were very friendly, they were playing SF13 (I think it was) close to the front door there, then one asked me if I wanted to play, ofcourse I declined being a total noob on fighters.
Browsing the top floor was exciting, but the real fun was their basement full of 29" CRT Astros, however quite empty. I think there was just one guy playing ... can't remember what, but they had Demon Front, two Bombermans next to each other, and much more. I have to check the pictures to see what games there were.
As today was mostly a rainy day, one of the three guys playing upstairs (the tall one, i forgot his name) offered us an umbrella. Camilla was very pleased, and charmed, something that she will remember Paris for.
So now I have a few pictures to bring home to Sweden to make the guys on AT drule over. I am happy to have been able to see some still functional arcades with well maintained games, and I think that the Paris arcades are in better shape than those in Vegas and even Santa Monica Pier, where I was last year and became gravely disappointed.