This game is a race to score points. That means your goal should be to gain points as fast as you can, and your best sources for that are points that recur each season. That means dinosaur value, visitor points, and certain facilities (biomes, etc.)

Each dinosaur earns a certain number of points each season. During end game scoring, only the variety of dinosaurs in your park is counted, not quantity.

The game doesn't allow much chance for players who are behind to catch up. Falling behind in one round means you have to double your points in the next round to stay competitive.

Reputation determines player order and how many Visitors come to your park during Open Season (between rounds). is a value assessed from dinosaurs and facilities in your park. Being first means you can get two bonus visitors instead of one. Reputation is not part of end-game scoring, except to break ties.

It's better to make a low value dinosaur now than save for a higher value one later, given the recurrence of points. Make what's easiest to make and make it now. Raptors and Mutants are your best value for this. Manipulation cards like DNA Theft, Rapid Gestation, DNA Splice, Black Market, and Research Pact are good ways to build dinosaurs fast.

To gain visitors, hotels are better than reputation. You don't want to lose out on visitors for lack of space. Try to build a hotel in each of the first 3 seasons.

Keep an eye on the City Center. If you see the Carnivore Biome, Herbivore Biome, DNA Archive, Park Mascots, or Fine Diner, buy them right away. After buildings that gain you points over upkeep phases, prioritize any building that give you a single instance of points.

Make sure you have some spare DNA cards to sell at the market, in case you only want to do one action there.

One strategy is to make a park with nothing but Mutants. The counter to this is focusing on visitors and reputation.