Thank you much Nate!

I will definitely be looking into KryoNet.  Sounds pretty good.

It would be nice to have some of those additional features. Especially the lobby in time.

A couple more things:

So when going about this, which should I start with: the client or the server?  I'm thinking the server?

How will I test this? I don't happen to have 5-6 computers laying around.  I do have 2. Can I connect multiple clients from the same machine? (Something I would want to eliminate for distribution) Heck could I even run a client on the same computer as the server?

Also, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but what about having a user log in?  I mean for now, in the client, I can just have it ask for a name so that it can be displayed and people know who's who but in the event this becomes something more, how would KryoNet work with users logging in with a user name and password?  I guess I don't need to know how so much as if I go with KryoNet, is this still a possibilty?

Thanks,

I have a general idea of how I could do this with sockets now.  I have one more question.  Since it is turn based, will I need to make repeated connections to each client per turn? Or can I connect to each client once in the beginning and that is it?
I would like to include a simple chat also in the application.

My current idea:
1) I'm thinking each client connects to the server at the beginning.  It accepts chat lines from everyone and displays them to everyone.  And it only accepts play orders from the client who's turn it is.

Does this sound like the right idea?

So if input comes in from a client and it begins with a special chat character, display it in everyones chat window.  and if input comes in from the client who's turn it is and the input starts with a special play character, make the move and output the results to the clients. so it would ignore play requests from the other clients.



2) Or should I be making one connection from everyone to a chat, and a connection that connects only to the player who's turn it is?  So essentially everyone has one connection open, and only the person who's turn it is has the play connection open?

So, I have been working on a card game and it has been going well. 
It is a 5 player game and it currently only runs on a single machine which isn't much fun.

My reason for writing it is that my friends and I used to have card night once a week.  Now, we're all off to college and we would like to play together once a week online.

Now I'm ready to take it online so that we can all play together.  The problem is, I'm not sure exactly how to go about this step.  I've done very little networking work with Java and have been looking on google for a simple multiplayer card game and haven't found a good tutorial.

So, what would be the best way to do something like this?
Can anyone point me in the direction of a good tutorial?  (The game doesn't need flashy graphics or anything.  Just simple cards)

I'm working on developing an American Football simulation engine. Right now, everything is still being designed on paper.  So far, I can see easily how I can create a team, and create individual players with their ratings. I can even see creating the stadiums and weather conditions to affect how they play.  My next big hurdle is figuring out how to simulate playing a game. 

I have been looking around for a tutorial but can't find one for this type of thing.

The only way I can think of to start this, is to create a coach class which would make all of the in game decisions based on how the game is going. If I do that, I would pretty much need to create plays, and a playbook.
This seems like an awful lot to generate some numbers. I feel like maybe I am over thinking this?  I mean games like Tecmo Super Bowl III for the SNES had decent season simulation so I feel like there must be an easier way?

Any help pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.