I've been programming some game servers, and I have the same problem with guaranteed two-player games; I feel dirty hard-coding the logic to assume two players, yet making it general enough for N players makes it absurdly more complex for no gain, which is a net loss.

(And yes, before anyone pops in, these are guaranteed two-player games. Of all the rules of the games in question which have changed over time, that is the one rock-solid constant which will not change in this application.)