Give the step-by-step reasoning process and then the final answer. Jeremy loves to play Scrabble. He once played a three-letter word on a triple word score to earn thirty points. If before the word score was tripled, the first and third letters were each valued at one point apiece, how much was the middle letter valued at before the word score was tripled?
Since the word score after being tripled was 30 points, then the word score before tripling was 30 / 3 = 10 points. If before the word score was tripled, the first and third letters were each valued at one point apiece, then the value of the middle letter was 10 - 1 - 1 = 8 points.
The final answer: 8.