This could have been avoided if you had played NOOKS so that the "O" or the "K" was in the center square, even if it meant a slightly lower score. So... what letters are "safe" to play in the center square? Getting a triple-word bingo on the second move requires forming an 8-letter word. Thus to be safe on the first move, we want to place a letter in the center square that is unlikely to start or end an 8-letter word.
The list below shows the number of times a given letter begins or ends a playable 8-letter word (under OWL2). The closer a letter is to the top of the list, the worse it is to place that letter in the center square on the first move. As one might expect, the clear worst choice of letter for the center square is "S". Surprisingly, "C" is also a bad choice.
As a general rule: it is safer to play letters with high value in the center square, vowels that are not "E" or "A", and the consonants "N" and "L".
letter count letter value ----- ------ ------ 13799 s 1 4896 d 2 4527 e 1 3813 r 1 3389 t 1 3384 c 3 3207 g 2 2448 p 3 2211 a 1 2099 m 3 1957 b 3 1862 l 1 1850 y 4 1664 n 1 1468 h 4 1416 f 4 1168 o 1 899 u 1 867 i 1 850 w 4 674 k 5 508 v 4 225 j 8 163 q 10 100 z 10 88 x 8
This list is original research from ScrabbleGuru.com. Come visit us for more!