OK, finally, after a half year or more, I got a new TM-868 off ebay. The seller is Aspire Sales in Jupitor FL. Paid $149 plus $25 shipping, roughly. Here is a link their online store:
http://stores.ebay.com/Aspire-Sales
Threw it in my suitcase and dragged it back to Russia. Slapped an adaptor on the transformer, plugged it in and away I went. So I'm glad I didn't overpay for something else here in Russia.... got the right unit at the best price without the games - just had to wait a few months. I'd recommend this source to anybody in the US.
Suspect it won't be long now before I'm upgraded from junky to full-blown TB addict....
Ripcord