Yes, the Tello EDU does charge for the game mode.
The Tello EDU app works with the Tello.
I agree that it is disappointing that the game mode (learning blocks programming) is a paid extra.
As I understand it, the hardware is exactly the same.
I have run through the Python code and have run the video example on the Tello and it works well. This for me is a great step forward since we now have a full explanation of the video stream and how to decode it.
I have not got this working...
I am an app developer and my app is for iOS. I have developed an Apple Watch app that controls drones such as Mavic Air, Spark and Pro. I want to develop an app for the Tello and it is for the iPhone (iOS).