by LSMB
Of course you can win without loans....but not using loans means you will just be giving up an important tool in the game that your opponents will be using.Mention to your GF how forgiving the loans are - it is the same interest penalty each round no matter how many loans you take. Perhaps this will convince her that this is not Agricola :)
The best teacher here will be experience. Just keep playing. She will figure it out.
