Card Shark, a recent game from superstar publisher Devolver Digital known for games like Trek to Yomi and the genre-defining sci-fi western Weird West is all about grifters. Set against an 18th-century high society backdrop, the game follows a non-verbal orphan who cheats his way out of poverty with the assistance of the Comte de Saint Germain, a real-life alchemist known for his extraordinary lies. More important to the history of grifting than even the Comte de Saint Germain, though, is The Expert at the Card Table author S.W. Erdnase, who penned one of the most comprehensive accounts of sleight-of-hand ever written. With that in mind, it's fitting that Erdnase plays a prominent role in the game as well.

In Card Shark, S.W. Erdnase plays an important role from the shadows, adopting a number of pseudonyms and disguises to guide the game's protagonists through the story. They adopt new gender identities as easily as new names. In fact, at one point, King Louis XV describes Erdnase as "a thief of dubious gender." They slip between high-stakes card tables and low-life slums, quietly influencing the lives of every character and the very fate of France.

RELATED: Gaming's Coolest New Subgenre Makes the Old West Weird

This is, of course, mostly a fabrication, as nobody knows much about the real Erdnase. It's commonly accepted that "S.W. Erdnase" is itself a pseudonym, used to protect the author from the legal repercussions of distributing illicit material, but seeing as The Expert at the Card Table was published in English in 1902, it's unlikely the mysterious con artist ever spent any time at all in France, much less in the 18th century. Still, the true story of Erdnase (or stories, as there are a handful of compelling theories regarding who Erdnase actually was) is just as compelling.

A comprehensive 2001 writeup in the American Heritage magazine outlines some of the most prominent leads in the hunt for Erdnase. One commonly accepted theory is that "S.W. Erdnase" is an anagram. When spelled backwards, the name is actually "E.S. Andrews," leading many to believe that Erdnase's real last name was Andrews. This theory has led to a number of candidates being dubbed "the real Erdnase," with one of the most popular being Milton F. Andrews. Andrews was a cardsharp who committed suicide a few years after the publication of The Expert at the Card Table while under investigation for murder. It's certainly an exciting story, but far from the only one.

RELATED: Why TikTokers Are Comparing a New Horror Cooking Sim to Sweeney Todd

Reports of Erdnase's life from those who claim to have actually met the enigmatic figure suggest he was related to the political cartoonist Louis Dalrymple in some way, which has made Edwin Summer Andrews a prime suspect. Beyond having the name "E.S. Andrews," the man married a woman named Adelia Seely, who was also thought to be related to Dalrymple. While none of these connections can be proven, each piece of circumstantial evidence mounts a compelling case.

Further theories about "the real Erdnase" abound -- it's been suggested that he was actually the respected mining engineer and author Wilbur Edgerton Sanders. "W.E. Sanders" is another anagram of of "S.W. Erdnase," although connections between Sanders and gambling are tenuous at best. In the end, the lack of consensus regarding Erdnase's true identity proves only one thing with certainty: the master of deception at the card table was very good at hiding and lying in the rest of the world as well.

Card Shark takes the mystery of Erdnase's identity and runs with it. As in real life, it's impossible to say who Erdnase actually is in the game. They don so many different costumes and go by so many different names that, by the end of the story, it's not totally clear who was (and who wasn't) Erdnase. While it's unlikely the real Erdnase was French, genderfluid, or friends with the Comte de Saint Germain (who died more than a century before anyone had read The Expert at the Card Table), one thing that Card Shark adapts with stunning accuracy is the absolute enigma of Erdnase.