Long before the current AI hype cycle, mid-20th-century researchers turned to...

https://ace-wiki.win/index.php/Who_Funded_Early_AI_Game_Research:_The_Surprising_Role_of_Card_Games

Long before the current AI hype cycle, mid-20th-century researchers turned to card games like poker, solitaire, and bridge to grapple with one of the field’s central challenges: reasoning under uncertainty and incomplete information