hello, so I just bought my very first pinball machine! Its 1969 paddock by Williams, and everything was working when I picked it up, brought it home plugged everything in everything seems to be working great, but the lap counter seems not to go any higher than the number one. Is there any tips for what I should do?

Added more information about problem to title

So, update on the problem.
After reading the instructions booklet, I was able to find the stepper unit.

Weird thing is, it advances as it should when I get the playfield up and trip hit the advance steps for tace buttons or switches. (After a full lap, it counts up one lap)

But if I close the machine, it won't advance past one lap.

On the last test, I actually made it advance two laps with the playfield down, so, I'm not sure what is going on with it.

Any advice?

Thanks yeah, I contacted the seller and he sent me a text that said the same, it seems to rotate freely when open, but it almost sounds like something is blocking it when closed.
I'm not sure what to actually do, because I've seen it advance to 2 a couple of times when playing it. More often than not though, I hear a sound, but instead of advancing to 2, 1 goes out then comes back on.

works as it normally should, but the table is up when I am doing that. It will work and advance as normal, doesn't feel gummy to me, but this is my first machine, so I am not 100% sure, I watched a few videos on how to clean a stepper unit, and although it looks doable, it makes me nervous. (I just spent 700 dollars buying the machine, that's more than a weeks pay for me)

Okay, so, I've noticed that when the stepper's coil hits to advance, I noticed that when I looked at it from the open coin door, (wow I felt flexible doing that, haha) that the springs for the reset are flexing too, but not the coil. So I'm thinking that maybe there's either something from the reset side activating on accident, or that maybe, only maybe though, that the central spring for reseting the wheel might have been wound too much. (because I checked the coils, and they have good smooth action.)

Since I have someone's attention, I do have another question on my mind, my flippers keep getting loose, and I keep having to open the machine to tighten the screw bolt... things. (small bolts with a flat head screw slot) Both the left and right flipper have these, and I'm told that is normal, but I was curious to know, are there supposed to be lock washers or something? It seems that every 5-10 games, I have to open the machine to tighten these again.

it sounds dumb, but I was doing the same thing, turns out that the right flipper only had one screw, the other one was sheered off at some point and doesn't move one way or the other. I'm probably going to have to find a way to get it out and get a new screw or will have to purchase a whole assembly, not a big deal, just an annoyance.

So, I wound up buying a flipper rebuild kit, and some coil sleeves, only to be hindered by the screws not wanting to come loose. Can I use oil or WD-40 to loosen the screws?

Well, now I'm done for, I turn on the machine, I hear the score motor clicking, but the ball won't come out, if I remove the ball, it stops, but nothing activates, flippers don't do anything, none of the things do anything.
I'm beginning to think that I have to take it to a shop for repairs.

Edit: I manually changed the score reels, and found out that it doesn't matter which one I advance, as long as the score isn't zeros, it will always start a new game like it's supposed to.
basically, as long as it is able to actually reset to zero when you hit start, it will work properly. I'm fairly certain that I have to clean contacts to actually fix the problem, and I still plan on taking it to a pinball repair shop in the future, but for now I think that I can do the repairs I know I can do at home. And maybe I won't need a shop for a long time.

Well, after weeks of cleaning and looking at the stepper unit, and still not figuring out why it only advances when the playfield is up, but not down, I accidentally ran into a video about stepper units. It showed, that the little screw that goes in towards the advance plunger linkage is for adjusting the action.
I loosened it up a little, and boom, now it works.

anyways, thanks for everyone's help for posting here with suggestions. If I have more questions I might post them here, or start a new thread.