def encode_letter(letter):
    """
        This will encode a tetromino letter as a small integer
    """
    value = None
    if letter == 'i':
        value = 0
    elif letter == 'j':
        value = 1
    elif letter == 'l':
        value = 2
    elif letter == 'o':
        value = 3
    elif letter == 's':
        value = 4
    elif letter == 't':
        value = 5
    elif letter == 'z':
        value = 6
    return value