Penn MBAs built this web game to help long-distance relationships stay close

Penn MBAs Jeff Zhou and John Li were both trying to solve the same problem: How do you keep a long-distance relationship strong?

“We hated that video chat, phone calls and email simply devolved into daily status reports of our schedules,” Li wrote in an email. Both Zhou and Li’s longtime girlfriends live in Asia.

They came up with Team 2048, a two-player version of the popular (and open source) puzzle game built by an Italian teenager. Zhou and Li added video chat, too.

It’s a cooperative game “designed to foster communication,” Li said, and it’s not just for couples.

Zhou and Li plan to monetize the game eventually, but for now they want to focus on building a suite of products. For revenue models, they’re considering targeted advertising or selling customized care packages.

Zhou, 25, and Li, 28, live in Rittenhouse Square and will complete their MBAs next spring. Their lead developer, Aaron Li, 23, recently moved to Philly from Florida to keep working on the project.

He’s currently single.