Meet Ingrid Lino, Guru of Games
Game Seeker’s First Employee Is Now Its Owner
For nearly 15 years, Game Seeker’s blue-and-yellow sign has swung in the Santa Barbara breeze, a beacon of fantasy and wonderment for the old, young, and young at heart. With toys, puzzles, board-game classics like Monopoly and Scrabble, and high-strategy challenges such as Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, Game Seeker has something for everyone.
Last November, the State Street store’s very first employee, Ingrid Lino, came full circle and took over as owner. “Honestly, I always joked that one day I would own this place,” she said. “I knew that it was this really great little gem. It had so much potential.”
Lino was born with the deck stacked against her. She was the first child of a single mother and grew up poor. At 18, she started working at Game Seeker and was eventually promoted to manager. Her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for games propelled the location from its humble beginnings to one of the cornerstones of the Santa Barbara gaming community.
