Can you survive the coming Ice Age? Set about 90,000 years ago, Dominant Species is GMT's Euro-style game of Competition and Dominance in the face of a coming Ice Age. Up to six players take control of an order of animals, either insects, arachnids, amphibians, birds, reptiles, or mammals and strive to gain an edge to survive the advancing glaciers.

Gameplay consists of a planning phase where players place action pawns on a planning board, then execute the chosen actions in order on the world section of the board. Actions include adapting to available resources, introducing new species, migrating to more favorable climates, competing against other player's species, discovering new lands to inhabit, and, most importantly, scoring points.

Dominant Species welcomes new players, as long as they have read the rules and/or attended the scheduled Demo prior to playing.

Number of Players: No fewer than 4 players will be allowed per game in the Heats, Semifinal, and Final. In the event that we have an odd number that does not allow for all tables to seat the same number of players, we will seat tables to have as many tables as possible have the same number of players while still having all tables meet the 4 players or more requirement.

Starting Animal: Players will secretly bid end game VPs, using species cubes, for animal selection order. The person who bids the most will select their animal first, followed by the person who bid the next most, and so on. Tied bids will be broken randomly.

Time Limit: If the end of the game has not already been triggered with 30 minutes remaining, the current round being played will be the final round. At the end of the current round, players will proceed to the final extinction phase followed by final scoring.

Advancement: Up to 36 players, but no more than half the field, will advance to the Semifinal based on the Heats Most Wins – Points standard tiebreakers listed below. If there are not 36 unique winners from the Heats, then alternates will be taken to fill to the next highest multiple of 6. The Semifinal winners will advance to the Final.

HEATS: MOST WINS - POINTS (HMW-P):

1. Most Wins (e.g., total in all heats entered)
2. Total Points – Players earn the following pints in each heat they entered:
   • 1st Place - 1,000 points
   • 2nd Place - 100 points
   • 3rd Place - 10 points
   • 4th Place - 1 points
   • All other places - 0 points
   • e.g. player has a 1st, 2nd, and 4th in three heats: total points would be 1,101
3. GM Specific Tie-breaker: % of first place in games played
4. High dice roll.

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